The Assassin's Code
by Sandsifter
Summary: Aria is an assasin who's lived through a lot and being the only female assasin in 50 years makes life just that much harder. When she meets team seven unexpectatnly and is bound by a sacred code to protect them with her life. KakaOC
1. Noble Assasin?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto or any of the other characters in it; however, I do own Aria and other characters in this story so HA!

Kakashi sighed and leaned against the doorframe of the restaurant. His visible eye wandered over the three other members of his squad. Sauske had grown to be a powerful ninja in the past few years and was nearly as tall as he, Naruto had transformed from the gangly blonde troublemaker to a formidable ninja who possessed amazing amounts of chakra and knew how to use it; Sakura was an experienced medic-nin. Loud shouts jerked Kakashi from his musing and he looked around lazily. They had just finished a simple B-class mission and were replenishing their supplies before they set off back to Konoha. Unfortunately, Naruto had found a ramen restaurant that he just _had_ to visit.

Kakashi looked over at the three teenagers. Sauske and Naruto, though they had gotten close over the years, still fought with each other the same way they had four years ago. Suddenly, Sakura jabbed Kakashi's arm, earning a sharp glare from him.

Sakura tilted her head toward the bar. Kakashi lifted his eyebrow, but turned his eye in the direction that Sakura was indicating. Standing near the bar was a blonde woman who was dressed in a black rather revealing dress. When she saw Kakashi looking at her, she waved and began to saunter over, wiggling her hips. The rest of his team had miraculously stopped fighting and were all snickering behind him.

_Great, just what I needed, a bunch of sixteen-year olds hanging around me. I really need to find some friends my age._

Kakashi turned to look at the woman who was now sliding up in the booth next to him. "Hey handsome," she giggled, "I couldn't help noticing that you were sitting here with those little children; you look like you need some adult company."

Behind him, Kakashi would practically hear the rest of team fuming. He smiled from beneath his mask and put his arm around the woman. "I am in your eternal debt for rescuing me, my fair lady; I don't think I could stand those children for a moment longer!" The woman flushed and leaned closer to Kakashi. "Hey kids, go get me and this fine lady cup of coffee."

Kakashi turned to his team and lowered his voice to whisper. "Your sensei gave you an order, what are you waiting for?" he smirked as he saw a vein in Sauske's temple begin to throb. "Go on, children."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort…

_CRASH!_

All the members of team 7 were on their feet in an instant. Kakashi took in the image through his right eye. Broken glass littered the floor around a single figure dressed in a red Jounin outfit. The man's eyes were rimmed with red lines and blood poured freely from his shoulder. Kakashi's eyes widened as he recognized the rouge ninja and spun around to warn the others.

"Sakura get out of the way!" he nearly screamed. Sakura turned toward him, but the rouge ninja caught sight of her first. He moved with inhuman speed and soon had his kunai pressed against the girl's neck.

"No one moves," he whispered in a deadly voice, "especially you, 'the Great Copy Ninja' or this girl's head will be rolling at your feet."

"Stand down." Kakashi growled to Sauske and Naruto who had resumed the fighting stance.

"But Kakashi-sensei-" Naruto began.

"Shut up Naruto." Kakashi hissed and turned his gaze back on the rouge ninja. "Let her go Rashi."

The ninja turned to him and smirked, showing off his pointed teeth. "Hey Kakashi, long time no see. I see that you have been well, I'll make you a deal, you back away and hand over all your supplies and I just might let this girl live, of course she will be accompanying me in my travels."

Kakashi's mind reeled as thousands of scenarios whirled in his mind, but no matter how he looked at it, Sakura always ended up dead. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a muffled voice that sounded from the corner of the restaurant.

"Let the girl go now."

Kakashi shifted his glance to the source of the voice and his eye widened at the sight. A figure was leaning against the wall. The figure's body shape was impossible to determine, black pants hung loosely over the legs and over tall black boots; a black cloak obscured the top half of the figure's body. Black veils were wrapped around its head, covering everything except a sliver of light skin that displayed golden eyes that were void of all human emotion. Kakashi instantly recognized the figure as the Golden Assassin. Though Kakashi had never seen him, it was well-known that he never lost his prey once he decided to go in for the kill. No one had ever seen his face, though it was rumored to be disfigured beyond human recognition.

The assassin's brilliant golden eyes were trained on Rashi and Sakura. Rashi had turned deathly pale at the voice and drew the kunai closer to Sakura's throat, drawing a trickle of blood that ran down the girl's neck.

"Get away from-" Rashi's threat was cut off as the assassin appeared behind him. The assassin held Rashi's weapon with one hand and the other was curled around the rouge ninja's throat. Kakashi watched on in silence—he hadn't even seen the assassin move. By the looks on Naruto's and Sauske's faces, they hadn't either.

In a flurry of motion, Rashi twisted around and snatched another kunai from a pouch that was secured around his leg. Rashi lunged for Sakura with the weapon raised, prepared to kill. Kakashi's heart skipped a beat and he moved to protect his student when the sickening sound of metal piercing flesh filled the restaurant. Kakashi looked up and saw that the assassin had let go of his prey and had planted himself over Sakura. Rashi's kunai was sticking clean through his arm, blood dripping on the floor, staining it red.

In a quick motion, two twin daggers appeared in the assassin's hands. One was the exact shade of its owner's eyes and the other was dyed a deep purple. Before Rashi could utter another word, the assassin had severed his spinal cord, leaving Rashi to sink to the floor, dead before he knew what had occurred.

Without a word, the assassin took a blue vial from his cloak and poured the dark liquid down the fallen ninja's throat and silently tucked the two twin daggers into his sleeves. Kakashi was suddenly aware of how quiet it had gotten in the restaurant. He spared a quick glance around and realized that the customers were all the same shade of deathly pale and each was shaking like leaves in the fall.

Kakashi exhaled and realized for the first time that he had been holding his breath. As soon as the relief had come it vanished as the figure turned around and knelt down near Sakura. In a flash, Kakashi moved to Sakura's side and glared at the assassin, knowing that he wouldn't be able to defeat him, but willing to sacrifice his life trying.

The assassin's golden orbs met his obsidian eye, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine. Then the assassin spoke in a ghostly tone, his eyes still locked on Kakashi.

"Your friend will live, the kunai left a shallow scratch, but you should clean it twice a day with this." The figure produced a small vial filled with a clear liquid and held it out to Kakashi. For a moment, the Jounin could only stare dumbly at the vial, shifting his gaze from it to the assassin's veiled face.

"It's not poison, here look" the assassin said with what Kakashi could have sworn was a annoyed sigh, he uncorked the vial with a gloved hand and poured a bit onto his own wound, not even wincing as the liquid seeped into his bloodstream. He quickly corked the top again and pressed it to Kakashi.

Kakashi numbly took the bottle and nodded his thanks. The assassin returned the nod and stood up, only to bend back over Rashi. He plucked the fallen ninja's headband from his face and tucked it inside his cloak with his good hand. Next, he reached down and plucked a small bag from the ninja's belt.

Kakashi was still staring at the assassin and realized that the pouch was Rashi's money. To his surprise, the assassin took seven gold pieces from pouch and handed them to a small urchin child who had been sitting at the next table. He tossed the pouch over his shoulder and it landed at the restaurant owner's feet.

"That should cover the expenses, I apologize for the disturbance." With a last glance at Kakashi, the assassin seemed to vanish out the shattered window.

With the assassin's disappearance, everyone in the room seemed to breathe again and the normal roar of the restaurant returned. Kakashi felt someone tap his shoulder and turned to see the owner of the restaurant motioning franticly for his team to follow him to the kitchen.

Naruto was at Sakura's side in a flash and effortlessly lifted the limp girl into his arms and looked at Kakashi for further direction. After a moment's of hesitation, Kakashi nodded and signaled for them to follow the old man to the back of the restaurant.

After carefully depositing Sakura to the ground, Naruto spun around and faced Kakashi with murder in his eyes.

"WHO THE HELL WAS THAT?" he screamed.

"Naruto, use your 'indoor voice'" Kakashi scolded automatically and turned to the shopkeeper for an explanation.

The shopkeeper shifted nervously and drew a sweaty palm though his black hair. "That, young man was the Golden Assassin."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sauske all took in a sharp breath in unison. Kakashi turned to the shopkeeper and saw him fingering the pouch of money that the assassin had given him. "Somehow I didn't imagine the Golden Assassin to be the type giving to charity. He is wanted in every village. It is said that he is merciless and ruthless, killing anyone who gets in his way. I'm having a hard time fitting that man to this description."

The man in front of them exhaled and looked around the room briefly before meeting Kakashi's eyes again. "The Golden Assassin always finds the target and has no qualms about killing them, but the assassin is certainly not bloodthirsty. I have often seen the assassin around the village, hiding in the shadows, careful not to cause panic." The shopkeeper chuckled, "We are associated through various circumstances, but I can assure that this assassin is different from the rest. There a code that is all but forgotten, it is called the 'Assassin Code.' This code has a series of rules that assassins must follow. The rules include forbidding the assassin to lie, to never kill unless in self defense of oneself, another, and, of course, on a job. The Golden Assassin is one of the rare assassins that follow the code to the book."

Kakashi's eyes wandered over the man before him for a moment and then asked, "Why are you telling us this?"

The man's eyes suddenly turned dark and he met Kakashi's eye with a hard stare. "The reason that I am telling you this is because you must learn not trust all that you hear and I guess I am beseeching you to not go after this assassin. I saw the wound that Rashi inflicted and I know that it is serious. I also know that the bottle of medicine that you hold in your hand now was the last of the supply. The medicine that you have could have healed the damage that Rashi inflicted, but it is yours now. It was given to speed up the healing process of that girl's scratch." The man's voice was filled with both anger and accusation and it made Kakashi flinch inwardly, but he refused to turn away.

Finally, Kakashi turned and scooped Sakura in his arms and began to walk out the door, motioning for Sauske and Naruto to follow. When he reached the threshold, he turned around and regarded the shopkeeper coldly, "Thank you for the tale, sir. Your food was lovely." With that, he walked out into the cold rain and toward Konoha.

The Golden Assassin crouched on the riverbank and took off the already soaked gloves and carefully placed them on the sand. Scanning the surroundings with the golden eyes that were the source of the ridiculous name, the assassin saw no threat and carefully removed the outer cloak and the veils.

Carefully, the assassin leaned over and splashed water on the deep wound with the limpid water. The assassin turned and studied the reflection looking back. Flaming red hair tumbled from the purple ribbon that normally held it in a ponytail displaying the normally beautiful face of a young woman. The assassin's smooth face was blanched pastel from the loss of blood and was lined with buried pain. She smiled faintly as she met the reflection's eyes before splashing frigid water on her face and then returning the veils to her face. A muffled chuckle escaped the veils as she looked upon her face as she looked at her cloaked body—no wonder everyone believed her to be a man.

She had completed her task; she had killed the rouge ninja and had collected her money. The mission was fulfilled successfully; she was free to die without obligation. A hidden smile still on her lips as assassin passed out and fell forward into the chilly torrent of water.

No one in Team 7 was inclined to speak that night. They were a good sixteen miles from the village where they had encountered the assassin and it would be another day before they reached Konoha. Sakura hadn't spoken since the attack and Kakashi was worried, eventually he sent Sauske to gather fire wood and Naruto to get fresh water, leaving him alone with Sakura.

When the two boys were gone, Kakashi turned to Sakura and looked at her intently. "What are you thinking about?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Sakura looked up at him with her green eyes for a moment before answering. "That assassin, when he looked at me, he looked, well genuinely concerned. I know that it sounds crazy, but if it is true that the vial was his last hope for survival, then he gave his life for me…"

Kakashi regarded her thoughtfully before leaning against a tree. "That assassin has killed many people, without discrimination. He has never spared a target; I have to admit that it is strange that he chose to spare you, but we can't let the actions of a murderer haunt our minds forever."

Sakura nodded and fingered the vial thoughtfully before rubbing the clear liquid on her scratch, now almost invisible. A scream suddenly ruined the silence that had ensued. Kakashi was up and running before Sakura could react. They had both instantly recognized the scream as Naruto's and it had come from the riverbank.

When Kakashi had reached the river, he leapt from the bushes with kunai in hand. He had expected enemy ninja to have attacked and was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted him. Naruto was hauling a mass of black cloth from the river, when he caught sight of Kakashi, he called out. "Oy! Kakashi, I think it's still alive."

Curiously, Kakashi approached the form, with the kunai still in hand. Naruto had successfully dragged the figure from the water and onto the sand. The blonde boy stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow and reached down to flip the figure over. What met their eyes made them both inhale. It was the Golden Assassin.


	2. Mindbender

Kakashi's blood turned to ice a thousand questions suddenly flooded into his mind, but he forced them down. The figure before them was still fully masked, but Kakashi could that the assassin had a large, bloodstained bandage wrapped around his left arm. Briefly, Kakashi considered leaving the man to die, but quickly decided against it. He was after all essentially a 'good guy.'

Stooping down, Kakashi gathered the assassin in his arms, the black cloth soaking his vest and shirt. "Naruto, get the water and return to camp immediately—we may need your help."

Naruto nodded and quickly returned to his task, but Kakashi had seen the excited glint in his eye. Sighing at Naruto's immaturity, Kakashi leapt back to the campsite with the limp body in his arms.

When Kakashi returned to camp, he found Sakura and Sauske waiting anxiously. After they caught sight of Kakashi's load, they both inhaled sharply. Carefully, Kakashi set the body down on the ground and ripped the old bandages from the assassin's arm. Instantly, Sakura was at his side and began inspecting the wound. It was fairly clean, but the flesh was tattered and red; Sakura let out a gasp and turned to Kakashi.

"He has lost too much blood; can you supplement some of the loss with your Chakra?" She asked him urgently. Kakashi stared at her incredulously.

"You want me to help bring this deadly assassin to life so he can kill us all?" he demanded. Sakura looked at him and he soon realized that she knew she would get her way in the end. "Fine." He muttered as he slipped his hand on the assassin's chest and let his chakra flow through the body. Naruto suddenly came leaping through the shrubbery with a pail of water sloshing in his hand and handed it to Sauske who brought it to a boil with a quick jutsu. Sakura quickly dipped her hands into the water for sanitization and began to clean the wound thoroughly. When she was finished, Sakura pulled a fresh bandage from her medic-kit and wrapped it around the assassin's arm. Giving a small nod to Kakashi, they all moved away from the assassin to wait and see if it worked.

Suddenly Naruto moved forward and began to inspect the assassin's veils. Cautiously, he reached forward to remove them. At that moment, a gloved hand shot up and caught the boy's hand just as it was about to remove the veils; golden eyes snapped open and looked into Naruto's intently. Sakura and Naruto screamed, Sauske jumped back, and Kakashi pulled his kunai.

Aria looked at the boy's face for a moment; it was a face she recognized. She felt awful and million questions threatened to burst from her throat, but she finally settled for the basics.

"What are you doing?" she croaked. Seeing that no one was going to answer her, she released the blonde boy's hand and sat up, bringing a hand to her head, it throbbed painfully and she just wished it to be gone. Despite her attempts not to, a feeble moan emerged from her mouth.

_Arg! What's happened? Where am I? How did I get here? This headache is killing me, why can't I just get a break once in my life? Being dead would be so much better…wait I'm supposed to be dead…oh no, tell me they didn't…_

Aria shook her head to clear her thoughts and glanced around her surroundings. She was in a forest near a warm fire with four people that she recognized from somewhere. Not a good situation. Memories suddenly flooded through her head, fueling new pain in her head, resulting in another moan of agony. Slowly, she shifted her eyes to the four ninjas that she had seen at the village where she had killed Rashi. Checking her veils to ensure herself that the blonde boy hadn't pulled them down, anger rushed forward, giving a small relief to the pain.

Scrambling clumsily to her feet, she narrowed her eyes at the four ninjas. "Idiots." She hissed, "Why can't you let me just die, did you think it would be fun to let me suffer as your slave? Who's bright idea to 'save the assassin?' I thought that you might have just been contented with the medicine I gave you and for saving your pathetic lives, but no you decided to come and claim my life as your property." Taking a shaky breath, Aria leaned against a nearby tree. Exhaustion had suddenly washed over her, making her even angrier.

The pink-haired girl, who she had saved from the rouge ninja, took a shaky step forward. Aria's eyes scanned her body and she determined that she was about sixteen and was not planning to attack. In a weak effort to retain her dignity, Aria narrowed her eyes at the girl and was rewarded when the girl stopped about six feet from her and turned pale.

The silver-haired man, who Aria recognized as Hatake Kakashi, the great copy ninja, put out a hand to stop the girl, but the teenager shrugged him off and addressed Aria.

"I am sorry; sir for offending you, but Naruto saw you floating in the river and pulled you out. Kakashi-sensei carried you to our camp and sustained you with his own chakra while I rewrapped your arm. In reality, it was Kakashi that saved your life—you wouldn't have made it if not for his chakra." She explained.

Aria stared at her for a moment longer and then sighed, "You don't have any idea of what you have done, do you?" she asked softly.

Confusion flickered across each ninja's face for a moment and the Uchiha member of the group stepped next to the girl and regarded Aria with a scowl. "Of course we know what we did; we just hauled your sorry butt out of the river and saved your life."

A rueful smile flickered behind Aria's veils and she fixed her gaze on the group again, taking every detail from the numbers of hairs on each one's head to the size of their shoes with her gifted eyes. Letting out an exhausted sigh, she addressed them in a wry tone, "You are extremely lucky that I was me that you hauled from the river. I am one of only seven assassins that follow the Assassin Code. In that code, it states that if an assassin is captured or rescued, his or her life is in the hands of the rescuer. That said, in saving me, my life is yours to dispose of as you wish. Furthermore, I am now bound to protect you with my life and am forbidden from killing any of you. My servitude ends when either of us dies, or, in a woman's case the rescuer tries to dishonor her."

The four ninjas looked at her in astonishment; this was the last thing that they expected her to say. Seeing their gaping mouths, Aria drew up to her full height and met their gazes with her own golden gaze. Not for the first time, Aria gave a silent thanks to her veils; they hid her exhaustion and pain.

"Wait a minute," Kakashi said, holding his hands up, "someone can't just give us his life. We saved you because that's what we do. You can say 'thank you' and then be on your way, but lives aren't something that can be owned by anyone else."

Aria's golden eyes met Kakashi's black one for the second time, for some reason, Kakashi found him unable to break away from the gaze once again. This time, however, the eyes were filled with pain and sadness that went out to Kakashi. "If you really wanted that to happen, you made a huge mistake in rescuing me. Honestly, I think I have a have a solution that will solve both of our problems; you send me on a suicide mission, I'll be gone and your neck wouldn't be on the line. I can guarantee success, so what do you say?"

"No." Kakashi said more forcefully.

Aria struggled to keep her anger from bubbling over and affecting her judgment. With the last bit of her energy, she appeared in front of Kakashi and looked him in the eye. "I'm afraid to inform you that you really don't have a say in the matter. I am bound to the Code and I will not break it no matter what."

Kakashi studied the man before him; the assassin wasn't much shorter than he and looked deadly even in his weakened state. The silver-haired ninja flipped through every possible scenario, but couldn't find a way out of the situation. Reluctantly, he nodded his consent.

Aria didn't bother to mask the look of relief of that washed over her eyes, she didn't know exactly what she would have done if the man had refused. Flashing him a smile she knew he wouldn't be able to see, Aria turned and walked over to a large tree that was exactly three feet and seven inches in diameter. Silently, she leaned against the trunk and sighed in relief.

The ninjas looked at her for a long time, each probably trying to figure out what had just transferred before nervously returning to their tasks. Aria leaned her head against the tree and closed her eyes, shutting the flood of information that constantly plagued her everywhere she looked. A few minutes passed before Aria felt a presence bending over her. Lazily, she opened a single eye only to come face-to-face with the blonde boy that had tried to take off her veils earlier. If she hadn't been a trained assassin, Aria would have screamed, instead she met the boy's gaze.

"Am I really that interesting?" she asked.

The boy before squatted before her and stared at her intently before finally answering, "Actually, you are."

Aria opened her other eye and scanned the boy, quickly memorizing every detail. "Really? So tell me who graces my presence." The boy's stare turned blank and Aria mentally sighed. "What's your name?" she clarified.

The boy grinned, "Oh! I am Naruto Uzamaki, the next Hokage!" He shouted. Aria winced as Naruto's voice seemed to drill into her throbbing head. Naruto leaned closer to Aria's face and examined the cloth intently. "Everyone says that your face is uglier than anything on this Earth, they say that it is lined with scars and is mauled beyond recognition. Anyone who sees it dies a horrible death."

Aria threw back her head and laughed, startling everyone around her. "Ah, Everyone is surly the wisest of all men. Tell me, Naruto, if anyone who sees my face dies, where do the stories come from?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Well, why do you hide your face if it isn't ugly? Can we see it?" Aria stopped laughing and became aware that everyone was looking at her curiously.

"Actually, you can't." she said nonchalantly. "I hide my face for many reasons; here are just a few: one, I am hunted by dozens of ANBU agents and am one of the most wanted assassins in the world; two, I never said that I wasn't ugly; three, assassins are instructed to let go of their identity and it is especially hard for _me_ to do that, therefore I cover my face with a veil."

"Why is it hard for you lose your identity?" Naruto asked.

The sides of Aria's crinkled as she smiled, "If I told you that, I wouldn't need to wear my veil would I?"

Despite himself, Kakashi smiled at Naruto's confusion, he took out an extra pair of pants and a shirt and tossed them to the assassin, who caught them with one hand. Once again, gold met coal as the assassin looked at him questionably.

"What are these for?" Aria asked.

Kakashi sighed, "In case you haven't noticed, you are soaked from your little dip in the river. You can change into my clothes until we get to Konoha."

At the mention of the village, Aria's heart skipped a beat. Konoha meant a Hokage and a Hokage meant death to assassins—namely her." Aria also knew that these clothes would show her not-so-manly features, rendering her veils completely pointless. Aria tossed the clothes back Kakashi and waved him off. "I'm fine; I have my reasons for the way I dress. This material dries quickly, so I'll just move closer to the fire."

Kakashi watched as the assassin moved closer to the fire, she looked to the sky and Kakashi saw the flaming colors of sunset reflect and meld with those golden eyes. All of a sudden, the golden eyes widened in shock and the assassin turned to Team 7. "Get down!" she screamed.

Instinctively, all the ninjas dropped to the ground as a silver whip whistled menacingly over their heads. When Kakashi looked up, his eyes met those of a tall man that sported a type of dress that Aria wore. This man however didn't have a veil. His eyes glittered a dark blue and he held Kakashi's gaze. No matter how hard Kakashi tried, he was unable to break away from the man's eyes. Slowly, Kakashi's own hand reached for his kunai and began to move toward his heart. Panicked that his own hand was moving on its own accord, Kakashi tried to move out the way, but his body was frozen in place.

From out of the shadows, a black figure leapt from the ground and pounced on the man with full force. The gaze broken, Kakashi stood up and watched the Golden Assassin tumbling on the ground with this strange man, he watched in horror as the assassin pulled out his golden dagger and held it to the stranger's throat.

"Stop!" Kakashi shouted. To his surprise, the Golden Assassin froze, but was still holding the dagger to the man's throat. "What are you doing?" he demanded the assassin.

"Trying to save your sorry life—it's my job if you recall. I know this man; don't look him in the eyes. Let me kill him and the world would be a better place for us all."

The stranger suddenly whipped around and faced Kakashi, trying to catch the Jounin's gaze, but Kakashi never fell for the same trick twice and quickly focused on the golden eyes of the assassin, trying to decide whether or not to let him kill the stranger.

Suddenly, the man in black began to speak. "Listen to me Hatake Kakashi. Spare me and I will tell you the information you crave—I have the pleasure of knowing the assassin behind me. We trained together many years ago. If you call her off, then I can tell you all about her."

"Don't listen to him, Kakashi." The Golden Assassin called, "Just let me kill him."

"Her?" Kakashi, Naruto, Sauske, and Sakura asked in unison.

"That's right, Kakashi. All you have to do is tell her not to kill me and I will divulge all information to you. If you don't believe me ask her—she can not tell a lie."

"Tell him the other reason that you are gracing our presence tonight, Hiyu." Aria hissed, pressing the dagger closer to the man's windpipe."

"Why, Aria, I was looking for you, of course." The man replied smoothly.

From behind Aria's eyes, a red light that only she could see flashed from Hiyu's mouth. "Liar." She hissed, "You should know better than to lie to me—I haven't lost my touch."

"Fine," Hiyu snarled, "I was sent here to assassinate you, Kakashi. Imagine my surprise to find that Aria here was traveling with you."

This time a green light erupted from Hiyu's mouth and Aria looked at Kakashi triumphantly. "He's telling the truth." She announced.

Kakashi looked from Aria to Hiyu and back again. "Don't kill him, uh, Aria." Kakashi said. Aria looked at him like he was insane, but carefully backed away, bound by the Assassin's Code, flinching at the sound of her name.

The sun behind her suddenly dipped beyond the hills, leaving the full moon as their only light.

Rubbing his neck, Hiyu looked at Kakashi and smirked. "So, my guess is that you saved my dear Aria's life and now she is bound by the Assassin's Code. Very well, I guess I can play along. Hatake Kakashi, meet Aria. She studied with me when we were very young." Seeing the astonishment on Kakashi's face, Hiyu's smirk grew wider. "Oh, don't feel bad, only thirteen people in the world know that Aria is female and of that thirteen, only two knew her name. See those absolutely gorgeous eyes? They have the incredible ability to take in every detail around her, in training, she could find a grain of sand in a dark room in seconds, and those eyes can also tell her whether food is poisoned or if someone is lying."

Kakashi was trying to absorb the information that was flooding his senses all at once. He failed to notice that Hiyu was shifting slightly until it was too late.

Aria's eyes were even sharper at night then they were in daylight. Unnoticed by the rest of the company, her eyes changed from their original gold to a deep violet as the sun disappeared beyond the hills. As soon as her name was spoken, a deep anger and a feeling of complete despair filled her. That was her most jealously guarded secret and Hiyu had just thrown it into the air like garbage. She saw the muscles in Hiyu's body shift and her mind instantly calculated the pattern of movement. She knew what was coming and her mind reeled. She was bound to Kakashi's word and she couldn't kill him, but she couldn't let Kakashi die. Hiyu obviously used this to his advantage and struck with an attack that was impossible to stop unless the attacker was killed.

She was bound to the Code. Bunching her muscles together, Aria leapt in front of Kakashi, wrapping her arms protectively around him and shut her eyes. It worked. By using her own body as a shield, Aria took the full force of the barbed whip and was immediately flung to the side, away from Kakashi. She rolled across the ground, her eyes flooded with tears, blurring her vision. The pain was worse than she had ever experienced, with the last sane thought that her mind accepted, Aria twisted around and grabbed the whip, yanking it toward her.

Caught off guard, Hiyu was pulled forward and landed on the ground near Aria. He looked up to see her staring at him with those purple eyes. "You're a fool, Aria. Your heart is too big for who you are. Assassins can't have feelings—you should know that by now."

Hiyu slowly got to his feet and raised his whip to strike Aria, but found that he couldn't. No matter what he said, he couldn't kill her. They had grown up together and they had trusted each other with their names. Despite everything, Hiyu couldn't finish the girl that he considered a sister off. He turned toward Kakashi, who was staring at Aria on the ground in astonishment and began to walk forward.

A noise behind him caused him to turn around. Aria pushed herself off the ground and was standing, shakily, poised for attack. With a graceful flick of her hands, two twin daggers appeared in her hands. "Sorry, Hiyu, I'm afraid that I've grown rather attached to these people." She said in a deadly tone. "You'll have to do better than that to finish me off."

Smiling slightly, Hiyu turned to Aria and returned the whip to his belt and produced his own pair of daggers that were stained blue. "All right, Aria. How about one more battle, for old time's sake?" Hiyu could see an emotionless smile form beneath his ex-comrade's veils. In a flash of motion, they both moved forward and met with clashing blades. Sparks showered the ground as they locked in mortal combat. Each move was critical to survival. Hiyu caught Aria's gaze and tried to gain control of her body, but he was greeted with a searing pain behind his eyes. "You should know better than that, Hiyu." Aria said between clashes, "My eyes prevent you from entering my mind unless I want you to."

"That's too bad, I so enjoyed that visit when we were six. How you stand all that information constantly flooding into your mind and not be reduced to a blithering madwoman will remain a constant mystery." Hiyu answered in ragged breaths.

Muscles strained against each other, punches fell, and kicks connected with body parts with sickening 'thuds' and 'cracks.' Aria's superior sight was matched with Hiyu's greater physical strength. Suddenly, an opening clicked in Aria's mind and she slashed the purple dagger across Hiyu's forehead. Blood poured down into his eyes and he sprung away, clutching his face.

Aria landed gracefully ten feet away, her back to Kakashi and the other members of team seven. "Get out of here, Hiyu. As long as I am protecting these people, they will not die under your hand. Stop crying like a child and go, before I decide to throw all the rules of the Code to the wind and kill you now."

Hiyu wiped the blood away from his face and looked at Aria, a deep chuckle rumbled from his throat. "You haven't changed since I last saw you, but then again, neither have I. He is still looking for you and he wants your eyes; I would watch out if I were you. Take care of yourself, we'll meet again." With a last glance at Aria, Hiyu took off at a run into the bushes. Aria watched him go for a mile, her eyesight tracking the movements of the leaves. Satisfied that they were safe for now, Aria sank to the ground and allowed the darkness to wash over her vision.

Kakashi had watched the fight with growing dread, he felt a strange sensation sprout in his gut and grow up and spread throughout his body. It was a feeling that he had never experienced before and he honestly didn't wish to try anything new at the moment. As soon as Aria had fallen, Kakashi was at her side, catching her beaten body before it landed on the hard dirt. In a moment, Sakura and Sauske were on the other side of the assassin and were examining her closely. Sakura looked up at Kakashi, a nervous glint in her eye. "Um, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes Sakura?"

"Um, I can't tell if she is breathing, I think we're going to have to remove her veils."

Kakashi regarded the girl thoughtfully; he was the last person to ever remove someone else's face covering, considering he never allowed anyone to see his face, but he was worried for this girl who had saved his life by sacrificing her own. Slowly, he gave Sakura a nod and in turn, she nodded to Sauske. Silently, they all leaned forward involuntarily to get a glimpse of the assassin's face. Just as Sauske's fingertips touched the top of the fabric, ice-cold water splashed on all of them.

Every member of the team screamed, even Sauske. Still clutching Aria, Kakashi jumped backwards, only to stumble on a rock and fall, sending him sprawling on the ground and Aria's limp body landing on top of him. Sauske and Sakura both had jumped to the side, clinging to each other and screaming. Only Naruto remained dry and he was laughing so hard that even that fact threatened to change. Sakura and Sauske both let go of each other and attacked Naruto.

"Ah, Naruto! What were you thinking? That water is freezing!" Sakura yelled, pounding Naruto's back with her fists. Sauske didn't say anything, but he looked a little too happy for the situation.

Kakashi was soaking wet and was considering beating Naruto into tiny pieces and secretly wondering if he could get away with it, he was, after all the Great Copy Ninja. A sputtering sound came from on top of him and Kakashi looked at the body draped over his own. Aria's eyes snapped open and glanced back and forth, taking in the situation. All of a sudden, Aria did something that Kakashi would never have expected; she began to claw at the veils around her face, ripping them to tiny shreds.

Her identity was gone. The thing she valued most in life, yet constantly tried to forget was no longer a secret. Her name was in the air and would be circulating the world by morning. They knew she was a girl; there was no point in hiding any longer.

There was something warm and soft under her, Aria looked down to find that she was on top of Kakashi. Unwilling to meet his eyes, she scrambled to her feet and looked away. Behind her, she heard him rise to his feet and begin to walk towards her.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi inwardly flinched at the universal question that just popped out his mouth. She was just mauled by a stranger's whip, had a huge hole through her arm, and various other wounds that had all been the cause of his own stupidity. Of course she wasn't 'okay.'

Aria was silent for a moment, and then addressed Kakashi without turning around. "I'm going to wash this grim off of me at the river; I have an extra set of clothes with me. If any of you decides to look at me, I will personally throw this dagger through your heart, and I never miss."

With those enlightening words, she stalked off into toward the river, not glancing back once. Kakashi's students had long since ceased fighting and were glancing at Kakashi for direction. When it became clear that he wasn't going to say anything, Naruto jumped into the air and pumped a fist into the air.

"HA!" he shouted. "I knew that water would bring her around, see you guys should have a little faith in me sometimes."

"Shut up, idiot." Sauske muttered.

"What did you just call me?" Naruto screamed and lunged at Sauske.

Kakashi watched the boys punching and kicking one another ruthlessly. He was tired and was really disappointed that he hadn't seen Aria's face; even through she had removed those veils. Sighing, he reached over and plucked the boys from their fight, holding each in one hand. "You two can maim each other later; right now we need to get some rest. Everyone set their sleeping bag near the fire so we can dry off. Try not to let anything catch on fire."

Without another word, Kakashi dropped the two boys and plopped down near the fire. As soon as his head hit the small pillow, Kakashi allowed the bliss of sleep to overtake him, praying that Aria could be trusted.

The other members of team looked at each other and shrugged. They followed Kakashi's example and were quickly asleep as well.


	3. Of Payback

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other characters in the anime, but I do own Aria and other characters that I decide to add in later. Okay, now on with the story.

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Aria stripped her bloodied clothes and threw them on the sand. Silently, she lowered herself into the chilly river. The cold water helped to ease some of the pain that coursed through her every time she moved.

By the time her assassin training was complete, Aria had learned how to detach her mind from her body's pain, but even this skill was unable to erase all the pain. Aria didn't know if it was a curse or a blessing that Hiyu hadn't dipped the whip with poison.

Numbly, she took out a small bottle from her pack and lathered the substance into her hair, watching grim and blood float away in the water. Next, she scrubbed herself with a bar of green soap, cleansing her each of her cuts. While bathing, Aria flexed every part of her body; luckily, no bones were broken and the whip had missed her spinal cord, allowing full motion of her body.

_It wasn't luck._ Aria thought to herself warily. _Hiyu never misses, he wouldn't have hurt me that badly._

Shivering sligtlyin the cold, Aria reached into her pack and withdrew another pair of black pants and a purple long-sleeved shirt. She tugged her boots on and a pulled on a black vest. After running a wooden comb through her auburn hair and binding it back in a new ribbon, Aria picked up her pack and old clothes and returned to camp.

The fire crackled comfortably in the middle of a circle of sleeping figures. Smiling slightly, Aria glanced at each sleeping face with something that resembled affection. Silently, she crept to where Naruto was sleeping and pulled the sleeping bag back a bit further from the fire so a rebellious flame wouldn't catch the sleeping boy on fire.

_They are so trusting. _Aria thought to herself idly before turning and making her way to a tree nearby. With a seemingly effortless leap, she relaxed on a thick branch fifteen feet above the campsite. Casting a quick glance around their surroundings, she probed each shadow for any danger. Satisfied the only things that were in a mile radius were the usual nocturnal animals and no humans; she settled down and lapsed into a light sleep, unaware of the sliverhaired ninja who was tracingher every move without even opening his own eyes.

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It was exactly ten minutes before sunrise when Aria woke up. Immediately, her gaze went to the campsite. The fire had long-since burned down and was now a bunch of cooled embers. All of her charges were still sleeping silently and Aria leaned back and looked at them in quiet contentment.

The rays of the sun suddenly began to appear above the horizon and Aria quickly looked for the rising sun. Sunset and Sunrise were her favorite times of the day; they both ignited the sky with colors that shifted with amazing beauty. As the sun rose to greet the day, Aria's eyes changed from the violet of the night sky to the golden color of the morning sun.

"How long have you been up there?" A deep voice asked from below. Wanting to delay the others from seeing her face, Aria didn't turn when she answered.

"I slept up here last night."

Suddenly, Aria felt Kakashi beside her on the next branch. Collecting her composure, she turned around and watched his face for his reaction at seeing her face. The shifts of the cloth mask betrayed that Kakashi's mouth was opened in shock and Aria watched in mild amusement as his eye widened.

"That bad, huh?" she chuckled after a few moments of silence. Quickly, Kakashi closed his mouth and shook his head.

"What? No not at all, I guess it wasn't what I was expecting."

Aria leaned back and smiled. "What exactly, were you expecting?"

From beneath his mask, Kakashi blushed for the first time in what seemed like forever. "Well, considering that I only learned that you were a girl last night and that you always hid your face, I guess I was expecting something marred with scars." Kakashi's eye wandered over Aria; she was about twenty-one, only three years his junior. Ginger hair framed her porcelain face and further displayed her golden eyes. Her body was well-muscled, but not so that they bulged. She was slender, but not skinny and her light, smooth skin gleamed in the sunlight.

Another soft laugh broke him from his assessment and he quickly looked up at her face. Her eyes glinted with mischief, "Are you quite done?" She inquired quietly. Suddenly, her face darkened and she looked at him seriously. "I need to ask something of you."

Kakashi looked at her thoughtfully, waiting for her request. "Alright, what is it?"

"There isn't any point in hiding anymore, now that you know. When we get to Konoha I must ask you not to publicly advertise that I am the Golden Assassin until we get to the Hokage. I would actually prefer that everyone not make the connection between me and the Golden Assassin until I am good and buried. When your Hokage executes me, I want you to give me back the clothes that you found me in so I can die veiled. Will you do that?"

Kakashi looked at her for a moment and then leaned back with his hands behind his head. "Have you ever killed anyone in Leaf?" He suddenly asked. He watched Aria think for a moment, she shook her head slowly.

"No."

Kakashi smiled. "Well, then why would the Hokage execute you?" His smile grew wider as he caught sight of her confused look. "Look, you can't lie and you just saved my team twice at the risk of your own. Since you haven't killed anyone from Leaf, there isn't any reason that you should die at our hand."

"But—" Aria caught herself just in time. Was she really about to argue in favor of her death? She looked at Kakashi and saw him smirking at her. His face suddenly changed and he leaned over toward her.

"How long has it been since you last ate?" He asked.

Aria thought back and then turned to him. "Ah, I think I ate something three days ago."

"Excuse me? Are you saying that you haven't eaten anything in three days and you had enough energy to fight that assassin last night?" Kakashi asked in disbelief. Aria looked at him strangely and then waved him off.

"I'm an assassin. During our training we go nine days without any food all the time, most of the time we don't eat when we are on a hunt. It's no problem."

Below them, they heard the teenagers begin to wake up. In seconds an argument broke out and Aria turned her gaze to the three people below them. She could feel Kakashi's eye boring into the side of her face and she shifted awkwardly. In a flash, she jumped down and landed on the ground with a soft 'thud.' As soon as she landed, a searing pain flashed from her back to her legs. Aria's knees buckled and she fell, barely catching her body with her hand. Taking a few deep breaths and blinking back the tearsthat had suddenly sprung to her eyes, Aria stood carefully and mentally detached her mind from the pain.

Everyone had stopped fighting and were all looking at her with fear written across their faces. Kakashi landed next to her and looked her in the eyes. "Let me see your back." Hecommanded softly.

Aria curled her lip and shot him a glare in an effort to make him to reconsider the offer. When Kakashi didn't blink, Aria turned around and looked at the forest around them. "No."

Kakashi didn't move from his position in front of her. "I am afraid you don't have a choice, Aria." He grinned ruefully. Aria didn't like the look on his face and turned around to get away, but in a flash, he lunged and had her pinned to the ground. His hands held her arms down and his feet were pressed down on the back of her knees. A dull pain escaped Aria's mental lock, but she was too surprised to notice it. In a moment she began to thrash, aiming for Kakashi's face.

"GET OFF OF ME YOU CREEP!" she shrieked. A deep chuckle answered, but the weight never lifted. Rage suddenly coursed through Aria and she began to thrash even harder, intent on beating the man on top of her to a pulp. "YOU HAD BETTER HOPE THAT WHEN I GET UP, I DON'T DECIDE TO BREAK THE CODE, BECAUSE IF I DO, I WILL KILL YOU IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE!"

In response, the weight only increased as Kakashi attempted to stop her struggles. "Sakura, Sauske, Naruto, help me hold her down so I can check her back. Out of the corner of her eye, Aria saw the three teenagers look at each other and then run over to hold her down. The pressure on her appendages increased and Aria realized that escape was hopeless, so she stopped thrashing and contented herself with muttering every obscenity she knew, which was a quite a lot, at Kakashi. Numbly, she felt her vest be removed and then her shirt was gently pulled up so only her back was displayed to her captors.

The collected intake of breath revealed that they had all seen the wound that was caused by Hiyu's whip. "It looks worse than it is." Aria offered helpfully. She tried to move, but a large hand pressed her down to the ground.

"How could you move with that thing?" She heard the Uchiha boy ask. "It must hurt like hell." Aria winced at their words. She had seen what Hiyu's whip did. The wound that team seven saw was a long welt that extended from the top of her back down horizontally to the opposite side; it was accompanied by one inch gashes that were the result of the barbs that decorated the silver whip. Seeing that they weren't going to let her up until they attempted to heal it, Aria turned her head to look at the pink-haired girl who was apparently called 'Sakura.'

"How much of that liquid that I gave you do you have left?" she asked. Sakura, who had been staring at the wound in mounting horror looked at Aria's face and produced the blue vial from her medic-kit.

"Uh, it looks like it still has three-fourths of the liquid in it." She answered shakily.

"Okay, just pour some on the welt and the gashes and rub it in." Sakura nodded and handed the bottle to Kakashi. Gently, Kakashi began to massage the wound with the cool liquid. Aria sucked in her breath as his hands touched the wound, but stayed still until the process was complete.

Suddenly, Kakashi replaced Aria's shirt and vest. Aria waited patiently for the weight to let up, but instead, she saw Naruto, Sauske, and Sakura back away slowly, the weight still held her down. "Let me up." Aria growled.

"I will in a moment, but first you have to promise me that when I do, you won't maul, maim, kill, or in any way attack us, do you swear?"

"Yes, yesI swear now get off of me!"

Kakashi chuckled and leaned over so he was whispering in her ear. "Actually, I'm quite comfortable, what about you?" Aria's eyes widened in shock and her face darkened with rage.

'Thwack'

"Get off of her already, Kakashi-sensei, you pervert!" Sakura yelled.

Aria heard Kakashi mumble something under his breath and then the weight lifted from her back. In a flash, Aria lunged forward whirled around to face the four ninjas. They all took one look at her face and the three teenagers miraculously disappeared into the brush, yelling something about getting firewood and fresh water.

Aria fought down the urge to cut the silver-haired pervert into tiny ribbons and then throw them in the mud. The only time she had ever been that close to was man was when she was in battle. Snarling, she spun around on her heel, grabbed her pack, and leapt up to the branch, refusing to even look at Kakashi.

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Kakashi looked at her for a moment, flinching at thememory of that look of utter hatred that she had shot him. He watched her take out an oil cloth and then proceeded tocausually disarm herself. The two daggers that she normally carried with her came forward from her wrists and were carefully placed into the pack. Two silver throwing knives emerged from inside each of her boots and four more followed from beneath her vest. Finally, Aria drew forth a longer knife from the nape of her neck. Aria then took one from the pile and began to clean them with the oil cloth.

Sighing, Kakashi leapt to a branch of a tree on the opposite side of camp and pulled out a copy of his book, 'Come Come Paradise.' Hoping to get at least a reaction from her, Kakashi looked up to see if she had noticed, but was disappointed to see that she simply continued to clean her weapons tenderly. Sighing once more under his breath, he settled down and soon became engrossed in his book.

An hour passed in tense silence until Kakashi heard Naruto come crashing through the brush, followed by Sakura and Sauske. _At least they didn't kill each other._ Kakashi thought before returning to his book.

"Kakashi-sensei, look out!" Sakura screamed. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw one of Aria's throwing knives racing toward his chest. Kakashi panicked and tried to leap backwards, forgetting that he was ten feet off the ground. Landing with a loud 'thump,' Kakashi barely landed on his feet, thanking his ninja reflexes.

Loud laughter filled the campsite and Kakashi looked up to see Aria giggling so hard that tears sprung to her eyes. "You—you should have seen the look on your face!" She opened her eyes and imitated his expression before falling back against the tree in another fit of giggles. Kakashi wasn't sure what was scarier; the death glare she had shot him or this insane laughter that had suddenly come over her. He did wish that she would fall out of that tree, however.

"What were you thinking?" Kakashi shouted. "Obviously you are insane; I thought you followed this Assassin's Code. You swore that you weren't going to attack any of us."

Aria's giggles suddenly stopped and she wiped a tear from her eye before answering. "First, I do follow the Assassin's Code, with my life if you recall. Second, I wasn't aiming for you."

Kakashi looked to where Aria was pointing and his eyes widened with surprise. There, the silver knife was imbedded in the heart of his book, pinning it against a tree trunk. Sap seeped from the tree and ran over the dirty book, completely rendering it useless. Suddenly, Naruto erupted into a fit of laughter, followed by Sakura. Even Sauske smiled. Kakashi glanced back up at Aria, who was smirking. "That was for pinning me to the ground." She informed him.

"You could have killed me." Kakashi pointed out.

Aria rolled her eyes at him and stood up. "Please, I never miss." She said before jumping to the tree and plucking the knife from the tree with a single yank. She looked at the ruined book in her hand disdainfully. "Good riddance if you ask me." She said before tossing it down Kakashi. "Next time leave me alone. My problems aren't your concern." Gracefully, she returned to her tree and wiped the knife with her cloth.

Sauske looked at Kakashi and frowned. "I can't believe you fell out of that tree." Hecommented before dumping his load of firewood onto the hot embers. "I'm going start breakfast."

Kakashi watched Naruto finally get up and flash Aria a thumbs up and thenrush to 'help' Sauske start breakfast. Sakura looked at Kakashi for a moment. "Are you alright, Kakashi-sensei?" She asked quietly.

No. His pride had taken a serious blow, and his ego had dropped below the meter, but that was beside the point. Slowly, he nodded and watched Sakura run to join her teammates.

Kakashi waited until his students were out of earshot before quickly jumping into the tree next to Aria. She refused to even look up at him and continued to clean her weapons. Sighing to himself, he knew what he was expected to do. Crouching down so as to be eye-level with assassin, he cleared his throat. Aria still refused to meet his eye and slowly folded the oil cloth up and tucked it into the pack. "Aria...?" Kakashi began. The assassin grunted in response, but still didn't look up and began to return each weapon to its proper place on her person. "Look, I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't mean to upset you that much, but I didn't want you to be in that much pain." Turning away, Kakashi prepared to leave, but a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

"Thank you for your apology; it was the last thing I expected." Aria offered him a small smile and Kakashi's heart preformed ararefluttered as her face lit up like the sun. "I guess I've just grown up in a different world than you did. People never offered to help before and I didn't know how to accept it."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, causing his visible eye to crinkle slightly. "Is that it, aren't you going to apologize for destroying my book?"

Aria laughed and smacked Kakashi lightly on the head. "Not in this life, that stuff is poison for the mind. I will howeverapologize for making you fall out of the tree, even if it was incredibly funny."

"Oy, Kakashi-sensei, Aria, breakfast is ready!" Naruto shouted from below.

Aria turned toward the sound and began to jump, but Kakashi suddenly planted a soft cloth kiss on her cheek. Aria was caught off guard and stumbled on the branch, losing her balance and falling. Aria saw the ground rush toward her and realized she didn't have enough time to land on her feet, so she twisted around and braced her shoulder, waiting for the impact that never came. She looked up to see Kakashi's eye curve in amusement as he supported her with his arms. "Now we're even." He whispered into her ear before setting her down and walking over to the campsite. Aria put her gloved hand to her face and felt a hot blush course to her cheeks. Kakashi smirked turned around. "Coming?" he asked innocently.

Aria glared at him and stalked to the campsite. Sitting down, Naruto handed her a bowl of ramen, chopsticks, and a cup of water. Instantly, Aria's gaze honed in on the meal in front of her and dug in, slurping the noodles up hungrily. In thirty seconds flat, Aria had completely drained the bowl and cup and was neatly wiping her face with a cloth napkin. Looking up at the rest of the team to see their status, she found that they were all staring at her in amazement. "Aren't you guys going to eat?" she asked.

Sauske glanced at his food and turned away, "If we don't eat it quickly, you might take it from us." Hereplied before digging into his own meal. Kakashi sniggered quietly before he too began to eat.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and then at Aria. "Oy, you're not getting my breakfast!" Naruto shouted before practically plunging into his own food.

"Aria," Sakura said, holding out her own bowl to the assassin, "if you're still hungry, you can have my food, I'm on a diet."

Aria regarded the girl for a moment before answering, "Oh, that's okay Sakura, thanks anyway. You should eat that food, diets are extremely overrated."

The others ate in companionable silence before beginning to clean up the dishes. When they were done with the chores, Kakashi looked up and clapped his hands together. "Since all of you thought this morning's incident was hilarious, we will be climbing trees today and then each of us will take turns sparring." He announced.

Aria cocked an eyebrow in confusion before turning to Sakura. "Hey, Sakura, I'll make you a deal, I'll take over your water duty today if you take this pouch and place a grain of rice in random places. Hide them as secretly as you can before training."

Sakura took the pouch and then looked up at Aria in confusion. "If you don't mind me asking, Aria, why do you want me to do that?"

"I'll tell you after training, if you don't hurry, you will be late." Aria answered with a wink.

After a moment of hesitation, Sakura nodded and ran off into the brush. Aria watched her go and then turned around, only to come face-to-face with Kakashi. "What was that about?" he asked.

"While you guys are training, I don't have anything else to do, so I'm going to play a game of my own."

Kakashi opened his mouth to ask another question, but at that moment Sakura returned, panting slightly and handed the pouch back to Aria. "Here you go, Aria I hid them using my transporting jutsu. Come on Kakashi-sensei, I want to show you something I learned."

Aria watched as Sakura dragged the silver-haired man away.Once they were gone, Aria turned around and looked at the ground where Sakura had come from. Her eyes instantly sharpened on the tiny disturbances in the dirt and the minute, unnatural bend of the leaves. She tracked the first twenty grains of rice with ease, but she then saw a flurry of footsteps and recognized them as the mark of the area where Sakura had preformed a transportation jutsu.

_Now the challenge begins._ Aria thought eagerlyto herself before whipping around and heading off in the opposite direction.

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	4. Getting to know me

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own Aria and any other characters that I add.

Note: Hey, well I happened to see that many people read this story, but don't review...Please people, just click the little button at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think. Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy now that I'm done with that, on to the next chapter...

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Kakashi was bored, REALLY bored;he would have been reading his book, but a certain assassin had successfully killed it. It had been an hour and a half of climbing trees and he hadn't seen any indication of Aria. Naruto and Sauske seemed to be in a dead competition to see who could fall the most times. So far, Naruto was at seventy-six and Sauske was at seventy-five—they only three-fourths the way up their respectful trees. Sakura had only fallen twice before successfully getting to the top of the tree and was now taking a nap in the shade of a large oak tree.

"Hey, Sakura!" A familiar voice called from behind him. Kakashi turned and was rewarded with the sight of Aria running toward them. He watched curiously as Aria reached Sakura and gently woke her up. Aria whispered something to Sakura and he watched Sakura's eyes open wide. "You found them all?" Hopping down from his perch on a nearby limb, Kakashi landed next to Sakura and Aria.

"What did you find?" He inquired.

Aria ignored him and addressed Sakura again. "Well, almost, I only ninety-nine; the last one is on your left shoe." Sakura raised an eyebrow before turning her foot over and looking the bottom of her sandal. There, stuck in the seams was a single grain of rice. Stooping down, Aria plucked the grain from thetreads and dropped it lightlyinto the pouch and returned it to her vest.

"Ah, thank you so much, Sakura. The twenty-two that you threw into the river were a particularly hard challenge."

"How did you know that?" Sakura asked her face portraying a new form of respect. Aria plopped down on the ground next to Sakura in the soft grassand began to wring out her soaking gloves.

"My eyes take in the information and I process it." She answered nonchalantly. "Next time, please don't shove one down an ant's nest; they weren't particularly happy about me digging up their home."

"Excuse me, what are you two blabbering about?" Kakashi asked again, clearlynot used to being ignored. Sakura seemed to just realize that he was there and looked up.

"Oh, sorry Kakashi-sensei. This morning, I hid one hundred grains of rice around the forest and Aria just found them all. That's amazing!"

Kakashi looked at Aria, "It certainly is…" He mused. "How's your back, Aria?" The assassin looked up at him andscowled faintly.

"Its fine, Kakashi." she answered, then turning her attention back to Sakura "What have you been doing this morning Sakura?"

Sakura's face clouded"I've been climbing the trees and sparring with Kakashi-sensei—he beat me in only a few moves. Since then, I've been taking a nap."

Kakashi winced at her words. _Great, now I look like a bully and a slacker. Thanks a lot Sakura..._

Aria looked upat the cloudsfor a moment, thoughtful and then back at Sakura. "I take it your hand-to-hand combat needs some work?" She asked mildly. Sakura looked at the ground,blushing slightlyin response and nodded. "You, know, Sakura, I grew up around males for the better part of my life and they just fight differently from us. If Kakashiallows us, I can teach you a few moves that will give you a better chance against your adversaries."

Sakura looked up at Kakashi with sparkling greeneyes. Kakashiglanced from Aria to Sakura and then back again, the idea of letting an assassin train his student in combat made him shiver, but how was he supposed to say 'no' to those eyes? After all, Aria had proven herself hadn't she? Besides, he would be within range if anything went amiss. Reluctantly, Kakashi nodded.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Sakuraexclaimed as she jumped up and gave her teacher aquick hug before turning to Aria. "Come on Aria!"

Aria broke into a smile at the girl's excitement. The assassin turned to Kakashi, "Don't worry, Kakashi, I won't let anything happen to her. We'll be back around dusk." With that, Aria grabbed Sakura's hand they sped off into the trees without looking back.

Kakashi ran a sweaty palm through his sliverhair and turned back to the tree where his male students were training, just in time to see Sauske fall through the foliage before turning to grab onto a large branch before falling to his death.

_At least they're learning _something. He thought to himself.

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Hours passed and the two young women sat on the forest floor, breathing heavily. Well, it was really Sakura who was breathing heavily, Aria was simply leaning against the tree, smiling. Suddenly Sakura laughed and turned to Aria.

"That was amazing! I've never had so much fun in my life, where did you learn all of those fighting techniques?" The pink-haired teenager rambled, pumped up on adrenaline.

Aria opened hergolden eyes and smiled, "When you live with guys, it gets tough when you can't beat them with pure brute strength. Women can be just as strong as men with a lot of training, but women should fight with their minds also. I figured that little lesson out the hard way." The assassin studied the girl in front of her, Sakura was sporting many bruises, but she had a smile on her face, obviously pleased with the new fighting technique.

Sakura leaned forward for a moment and a light blush rushed forward, "What do you think of Kakashi-sensei?" This question caught Aria off guard and she blinked.

"Um, well, he certainly is protective of you and the others. From what I've heard, he's an amazing fighter and-" Aria stopped talking as she saw Sakura shaking her head vigorously.

"No, I mean, do you think he looks hot or, would you consider him as a boyfriend?"

"Well, I guess he is pretty good looking, considering the mask,and I'm sure he's a great guy and everything, but the whole pervert thing has to go." The sparkles in Aria's eyes faded suddenly and she glanced away. "What you don't understand, Sakura is that assassins can't had those kinds of feelings.I have to admit that I like you guys and you are certainly different than what I'm used to, but my job is to protect you with my life."

Sakura's eyes bore into Aria for a moment and then she looked up at the clouds. "I think he likes you. When you aren't looking, he always looks at you strangely. I've never seen that lookfrom himbefore."

A dry chuckle erupted from Aria's throat and she looked at Sakura. "That look you are talking about isn't one of adoration or affection, it's one of suspicion. You must never forget, Sakura that while I swear to you that I will never harm any of you, I am an assassin and will always be one."

The assassin looked at thecrystal-clearsky; it would be another two hours before sunset and Aria wanted Kakashi to see Sakura's progress. Standing up, Aria brushed the dirt and leaves from her pants and shirt. "Come on, I want to see the look on Sauske's face that he has a new rival for hand-to-hand combat."

Sakura looked at her for a moment and then nodded, forcing a smile and leapt after Aria into the trees.

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Meanwhile,Kakashi forced himself to sit down and relax. Sakura was perfectly safe with Aria; the assassin would guard the teenager with her life. Just then, an image of Aria teaching Sakura how to kill someone in a single blowflashedacross his mind, complete with gore and lots of blood; he let out a groan. That particular decisionhas to be one of his worst.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called from above.

Kakashi opened his eye and looked up at Naruto. The boy was perched on the limb that Aria had occupied earlier and was holding up the assassin's pack. Kakashi's eye opened wide and he transported himself up next to Naruto. He reached out and snatched the pack from the astonished boy.

"Are you insane?" He demanded. Kakashi glanced around the campsite, fearing that Aria would come walking through the leaves any second.

Naruto grabbed the pack backfrom Kakashi and looked at him strangely. "Aria told us that they would get back around sunset, we have like, two hours. Come on, I did this to you when you became our teacher and you never suspected it, did you?" Ignoring the angry glare from his teacher, Naruto began to systematically pull out the contents of the pack. "Kakashi-sensei, aren't you the least bit curious about what Aria has in this?"

Kakashi _was_ curious about what Aria carried around with her, but he hesitated, knowing that they would face Aria's wrath if she caught them. Sauske suddenly called from the ground. "I'm going to the river; just for the record, I was never part of this." With that, Sauske stalked off into the brush.

Naruto shrugged and then pulled out some bottles that were wrapped carefully in cloth. "What do you think these are?" He asked Kakashi who reluctantly took them and began to study the bottles.

"I have no idea," he answered, wrapping the bottle back up and setting it aside, "come on, Naruto, let's go." Kakashi turned to leave, but was interrupted by Naruto's surprised yelp. Instantly he spun around and looked at the thing in Naruto's hand.

"What is this thing?" Naruto asked as he held up Aria's bra. Kakashi snatched the bra and was about to tell Naruto off when he heard a voice below him.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you and Naruto doing…oh my gosh! Kakashi-sensei, you pervert!" Sakura screamed when she caught sight of the object in Kakashi's hand.

"Well, um, you see I have an excuse, I mean, an explanation…" Kakashi began, if Sakura was back, that meant that that Aria wasn't far behind…

"Hm, that should be an interesting tale." A cold voice came from above them. Kakashi and Naruto both turned blue as Aria dropped from a higher branch and landed in middle of them. "It looks like two perverted men have decided to invade my privacy and go through my lingerie." Kakashi quickly threw the bra into the pack and stepped back next to Naruto. Without taking her eyes off Kakashi, Aria addressed Sakura. "Sakura, if you would be so kind as to take Naruto and find Sauske and showhim what you learned today, I have to talk to Kakashi alone for a minute."

Nodding, Sakura joined the three of them on the branch and picked up Naruto by the collar and glanced at Kakashi. "You are so dead." She informed him before stepping into the foliage, dragging a pale Naruto behind him.

When they were gone, Aria stooped down and pulled the bottle that Kakashi had been fingering and held it up to the light. "This is a highly poisonous liquid that gives off a deadly vapor. One sniff of it and your heart would have stopped before you knew what had happened." Ariaexplained andrewrapped the bottle and took out another red vial. "This is another nasty concoction. It makes your eyes bleed, eventually you die of blood loss—not a pretty sight." Lastly, Aria pulled out a small, green vial. "This is one of the milder poisons that I carry with me; if it spills on your skin, it'll eat through the tissue and poison the blood stream."

When she had returned the bottles to her pack, Aria turned around and looked at the tree. Tears that she had thought to have been lost, threatened to spill once again. The fear that she had experienced was far greater than the anger at having her privacy invaded. Any one of those bottles could have killed Naruto or Kakashi. Taking deep breaths, Aria beat down the fear—anger was an acceptable emotion, but fear was strictly forbidden. For once in her life, Aria couldn't stop the fear that suddenly took root in her gut and refused to be killed.

Suddenly, warm, muscled arms encircled her and carefully turned her toward him. Looking her in the eye, Kakashi offered her a comforting smile that shone from beneath his mask and brought her to his chest. Resting his head on top of hers, Kakashi held her for what seemed like an eternity.

FLASHBACK:

Aria had always been alone, ever since the Guild master Assassin killed her parents when she was only a toddler so as to integrate her into the assassin society. Every two years, the Master Assassin would send his best tracker assassins into the poorer villages on the outskirts of the borders where bloodlines mixed and mutts were created. These assassins would find the young children who possessed special gifts and would take them from their families. One assassin would hold the child, forcing the youngster to watch as the other members of the team would kill its parents and siblings before its eyes and burn the home. This brutal practice introduced death to the children and cut off all ties to the world they would leave.

Aria was a special case; she was the only girl child to be accepted into the assassin society in fifty years. Even though she was taken when she was only two, the image of her parents faces as they were cut down before her burned in her mind forever, plaguing her with nightmares every time she closed her eyes.

One night, after a particularly gruesome and graphic dream, Aria had run to her attendant, the one assigned to teach her to use her special skill effectively. He was a smiling figure that had the unusual gift of seeing through walls and other solid objects. That night, when she was only eight, she ran into his arms, crying and seeking comfort from the man who had been like a father to her.

"Ah, Seer, I had the dream again. Help me!" she had pleaded to him.

The man had looked down at her, his face wiped clean of his normally smiling expression and replaced with one of rage. Grabbing her roughly by the shoulders, he picked her up and slammed her into the wall. "Listen to me, little one. You must let go of them; an assassin cannot feel anything, no longer are you part of anything. From now on, you are an assassin and nothing else; you belong to the Master Assassin, at his disposal and ready to die and murder. No more tears will fall from your eyes, do you understand? Feelings are for those with a life to hold onto, yours was ripped from you the moment we found you. Did you think that I cared for you? You are a weapon and will always be looked upon as one, no matter what people express to you, they want to use you. No one will love you again and comfort will not come." Pulling her to his chest, he whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry." Before taking out his dagger and thrusting it into the back of her shoulder.

That was the last time Aria had cried or had looked for comfort from anyone in the world. She was a weapon, nothing more…

END FLASHBACK

The memory of that night came flooding into Aria's mind as Kakashi held her to her chest. Instantly, she cleared her thoughts of everything and slipped from his grasp, feeling him staring at her back. Quickly, she grabbed her pack and pulled out her cloak and her extra veils, wrapping them around her face once again hiding fromharsh reality.

Kakashi saw the look on Aria's face as she pulled away from him and his stomach dropped as he watched her put on her veils. He mentally berated himself mercilessly for his stupid and selfish action. Of course she would have found out that they had gone through her stuff, why had he thought differently? Awkwardly, he placed his hand on the woman's cloaked shoulder.

"Look, Aria. I'm sincerely sorry, please don't leave." Kakashi said, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

Aria turned toward him and he noticed the corners of her eyes crinkle as she smiled. "Sorry, to disappoint you, Kakashi, but you can't get rid of me that easily. I know that you wouldn't do it again and I appreciate your apology. I'm just going for a run."

"Oh, well why do you have your veils on? I was really enjoying the view." Kakashi joked, trying to lightening the mood. Apparently, it worked because Aria laughed beneath her veils.

"In case you haven't noticed it's going to rain soon and even through it is the end of winter, someone could catch hypothermia if she got wet."

"Oh, well, in that case, allow me to join the fair lady." Kakashi said with a deep bow, still a little bewildered at the sudden change of heart, but willing to exploit it at all costs.

Aria considered the proposal for a minute before finally giving Kakashi a shrug. "Sure, you can join me, but if you don't cut out the pervert act, I think I'll leave you in the forest."

Kakashi laughed and jumped down to the ground, followed by Aria. "Please, ladies first," he said, "I think I'll enjoy the view better back here." He was rewarded with an appalled look from Aria and she spun around, glaring at him before bounding away.

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_Damn, she's fast. _Kakashi thought, keeping his eye trained on the black figure darting swiftly and confidently over the ground, moving further away with every stride. They had been running for about an hour, the sun was beginning its final decent toward the horizon. At last, he broke through the edge of the forest and burst into a clearing that overlooked the mountains in the distance.

Aria was gazing up contently, watching the clouds move toward them ominously. A few raindrops began to fall from the grey sky, making soft, delicate sounds as they hit the dirt. Cautiously, Kakashi moved to where Aria was and stood behind her, marveling at the assassin in quiet reverence.

Both figures lost track of time as they stood in companionable silence. As the sun sunk below the horizon, Kakashi watched in wonderment as the golden glow of Aria's eyes was engulfed by a violet wave. Suddenly, Aria turned around and gazed at Kakashi, who suddenly became aware of how hard it was raining.

"Sorry, I guess I forgot you were there." Aria said sheepishly.

Kakashi looked at the woman in front him for a moment, regarding those amazing eyes for a moment before shrugging. "That was a great run; I don't think that I've exercised like that in a long time. Usually I'm being followed by an insane group of teenagers. No matter how fast I run, they always seem to catch up." Kakashi shuddered to prove his point before looking at Aria. "By the way, you didn't teach Sakura anything…deadly, did you?"

Aria looked at him slyly before answering, "Well, that depends on what you considered deadly…" When she saw the horrified look in Kakashi's eye, she let out a laugh. "Nah, I only taught her to overcome the physical disadvantages between males and females. If she wants she could apply those ideas to kill, but normally they were only meant to disarm."

"Oh." Kakashi merely stated. "What is it exactly that your eyes can do?" he inquired, wanting to change the subject that was laced with distrust.

"Hmm, I believe Hiyu pretty much summed my powers fairly well. Basically, whenever I look at something, my brain processes it to the minute degree. For example, when I look at you, I can mentally count each hair on your head; memorize each curve of your face, and each muscle in a time-span of a mere second. I analyze things with my eyes and can see farther and sharper than others, especially at night. Hiyu couldn't see into my mind because they act as mirrors to his power, which is to infiltrate and take control of the mind. In addition, I can see poison in food and water and can tell if a person is lying."

"I see, that must be a little overwhelming." Kakashi murmured.

Aria laughed dryly, "Yeah, especially when I'm in a new place, but Hiyu said that my mind was conformed to accept it. When he entered my mind years ago, he wasn't right for days afterward."

"Hmm, and what is he to you? Are you two lovers?" Kakashi asked casually even though his throat constricted at the thought.

Aria grimaced, "Eww, you're a pervert, just because I knew him doesn't mean that I am his lover. For one, he was the closest thing to a friend that an assassin can have. We were often on the same squad,and worked together really well. Secondly, assassins can't afford to feel those types of emotions. And third, it really isn't any of your business." Aria watched the raindrops grow and fall faster to the ground; each time one fell, her mind made an adjustment to fit her perception of the forest, resulting in a light, throbbing headache. "Let's go, at this rate everything will have changed into mud and we may be stuck out here in the rain all night."

Without another word, Aria bounded away toward camp. Kakashi smiled secretly beneath his mask before following her. _Ah, we'll see about those emotions._

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Aria landed at campsite and glanced back to check to make sure that Kakashi hadn't gotten lost and sighed with relief as she caught sight of him a while back. Silently, she looked into two tents that were set up around the smoking campfire. Inside one, Sauske and Naruto were sprawled, dead to the world in their sleeping bags, sporting a few large bruises; inside the other, smaller tent, Sakura was asleep, a smile playing at her lips. It looked like the assassin's training had resulted with success.

Ducking out of the tent, Aria turned around to see Kakashi emerge through the foliage, his silver hair plastered against his face. "Well, I guess I should say 'Goodnight.'" Aria said awkwardly before preparing to jump to her usual perch. In a flash, Kakashi was inches in front of her, making her run into his hard chest.

"What was that for?" Aria grumbled irritably.

Ignoring her question, Kakashi leaned over to look the woman in the face. "It's pouring rain; the question should be where do you think you're going? No, wait I'll answer that for you, you're sleeping in my tent tonight."

Aria opened her mouth to tell him off with a few choice words, but Kakashi clapped his large hand over her veil and pulled her into his nearby tent. A moment later, Aria found herself bending down inside Kakashi's tent with him shaking his head, water droplets spraying everywhere. Quickly, Kakashi shed his shirt and pulled on a dry one. Surprisingly and thankfully his pants weren'ttoo wet.

Aria found that she was trapped in a corner; Kakashi was standing directly in front of the doorway. It wasn't exactly the fact that she was sharing a tent with a man, no; she'd done that many times when she was assigned a joint mission, but those assassins were, well emotionless and left her alone. She could trust them to carry out the mission and not touch her. Those men were familiar, almost like brothers. Now she was in this tent with a stranger that was obviously intending on keeping her here.

Suddenly, Kakashi lit a small lantern and placed it on the ground. "You're dripping." He said simply.

Aria looked at him dumbly, still trying to process how exactly she had ended up in this situation. "Huh?"

Sighing, Kakashi pointed to Aria's cloak and repeated himself, "You're coat is dripping all over my sleeping bag. If you want, you can wear some of my clothes."

"My cloak is water-proof, my clothes are dry, but you won't be if you don't let me out of this tent right now." In a flash of movement, Aria barreled toward the tent entrance, but was stopped as she ran head-on into Kakashi's chest. The force of the impact caused Aria to fall backward, suddenly; two arms wrapped themselves around Aria's waist, keeping her from falling.

"You were saying?" Kakashi laughed quietly.

Aria growled and pushed away from the silver-haired man. "Let me out of here." She demanded. "Or I'll—" Aria's threat was cut off when Kakashi suddenly leaned forward, looking her in the eye.

"Hmm, normally I would gladly move aside for an assassin of your stature, but as I recall, you promised that you wouldn't attack any of us, therefore, you have no way of getting out. I suggest that you take off your cloak and sit down."

Aria briefly considered spitting his face before discarding the idea; he was right, he was stronger physically and she was bound by her word. Muttering a few curses that she picked up around her fellow assassins, Aria took off her cloak and veils and wrung the water out of them over Kakashi's sleeping bag before tossing it into the corner. Scowling, she sat down, keeping an eye onthe exitfor an opportunity for escape.

Kakashi looked at Aria for a moment, then at his now soaking sleeping bag. "Well, that was unnecessary." He grumbled before pulling the sleeping bag out of the way and sitting across from Aria, still guarding her exit. A few silent moments passed before he decided to break the silence. "So, while we're both up, I guess we can learn more about each other." Kakashi heard Aria snort and look away.

"You've got to be joking." She mumbled.

"Okay, well then, I'll start." Kakashi put his finger to his face and pondered for a moment. "Hmm, my name is Hatake Kakashi, Jounin ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. My favorite color is probably black and I spend most of my time training Team Seven." Kakashi looked at Aria expectantly. A few awkward minutes passed before she finally turned around to look at him with her stunning purple eyes.

"You can call me Aria, otherwise known throughout the world as the 'Golden Assassin'. I've been training as an assassin since I was two and have since then become an elite tracker assassin or Seer. My claim to fame is being the first female assassin in fifty years and counting. I really don't have any time to spare to do anything besides run from those who want to find me. Right now my life is owned by a lazy, perverted ninja and a bunch of teenagers. Most of my time is spent breathing and my favorite colors are obviously gold and violet."

Kakashi looked at Aria for a moment, "See, and was that so hard? Did you say you've been training as an assassin since you were two? Were your parents assassins?"

Aria turned to meet his gaze and stared at his exposed eye for a long moment. Without looking away she answered him in a quiet voice. "The place where I was trained is an elite...school for assassins. Each year it sent its best assassins to the outskirts of the villages. Those areas are poorly guarded and often overlooked by the governments. The assassins seek out the young children who have special or unique gifts; they call this process 'recruiting.' When a child is found, one assassin holds it and forces it watch as another slaughters its parents and family before its eyes, then the house is burned to the ground. This process eliminates the child's ties to the real world and forces it to become bothemotionless and deadly. When the new assassin is brought back to the headquarters, it is placed in the care of a senior assassin who trains it to use its power."

Aria trailed off and then glanced at the tent flap, there was an opening. Before she could move, a firm hand clamped down on her arm. She turned to find Kakashi inches from her, his warm breath on her face. "You never got a chance to experience life, did you?" he said, more as a fact than a question.

Aria met his gaze and finally realized that she was never going out of the tent and leaned against one side. "The moment I was born, my fate was sealed. Life was never an opinion for me; it has always belonged to someone else. When you saved me, it was ripped from its previous owner and given it to you. I don't want or need your pity. It's who I am…nobody."

Kakashi released her arm and leaned back next to her. "You may have been nobody, but now, you are Aria. As long as you are here, you are someone and mean something. Against what was my better judgment, I took you in and now the team has become attached to you; the ironic thing is that I don't regret saving this assassin." Kakashi looked at Aria's astonished face and smiled before blowing out the lantern. "Goodnight, Aria." He said before falling into his own kind ofslumber.

Tears threatened to fall from Aria's eyes, but she quickly blinked them back. She hadn't cried in thirteen years and wasn't about to start now. "You're wrong." Aria whispered to the sleeping man next to her before falling into her own troubled sleep.

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Alright, I'll update in a few days, but PLEASE review! Till next time, Sandsifter


	5. Dreams and Encounters

Disclaimer: Well, I must say that I don't own Naruto, but I do own Aria and other characters that I include in my story, plus the general storyline.

Note: Thanks so much to all of my reviewers. You guys make my day and I'm glad you enjoy the story!

_dream/thoughts_

"speech"

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_Aria was being held by two tracker assassins; they were forcing her to look ahead at her burning home. She began to plead with them, knowing that her parents were about to be led out next to be executed before her. Her pleads fell on deaf ears as they always had and the assassins looked ahead with dead eyes._

_Suddenly, Aria's head was forced up and she saw the other assassins leading their victims sullenly. Aria's eyes widened in dread and shock when she saw who is was. There, being led in a single line was team seven. The ninjas were lined up side-by-side, their terrified expressions cutting fresh wounds into Aria's heart. Bile rushed forward into the young female assassin's throat, but she managed to choke it down. Suddenly, a tall, dark figure emerged from the flames of the burning house and walked toward her. Taking Aria's chin gently in his gloved hand, the man forced her to look at his flaming orange eyes. _

"_You serve me, young Seer. No matter what frivolous code you have dedicated yourself to; your life is mine forever." The master assassin's expression turned to one of feigned regret. "I'm sorry Seer, but you knew that getting attached to people is forbidden." The man spun around on his heel and proceeded to cut the throats of Sauske, Naruto, and Sakura. The teenager's bodies fell to the ground, blood staining the ground a treacherous red. Lastly, the master assassin came to Kakashi and put the dagger to his neck, Kakashi looked at Aria with a blank and dead expression before the dagger sliced across his throat. Kakashi's head rolled to the ground, his eye still staring up at her with a heartbreaking look. _

_Aria couldn't tear her gaze from Kakashi's face. She began to tremble violently and the tracker assassin's grip on her loosened, allowing her to sink to the scarlet earth. Suddenly, she opened her mouth and let out a bloodcurdling scream._

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Kakashi had woken up long before Aria and was studying her with admiration. The girl had slumped over sometime during the night and was now resting her head against Kakashi's shoulder. Her body was pressed up against his and a soft, peaceful smile was placed on her lips. Carefully, Kakashi tucked one stray hair behind her ear and smiled under his mask.

In a moment, Aria's face changed from one of peace to pure terror; she began to tremble and beads of sweat formed at her brow. Kakashi frowned; the terrified expression on her face didn't suit her at all. A scream from outside the tent made Kakashi's head snap up.

Aria's eyes shot open as she recognized the scream. _Sakura._ Panic set in as Aria whipped out two of her daggers and slashed the side of the tent. She dully registered that she had been leaning against Kakashi as she lunged forward and out the tent. Unfortunately, sunrise had already come and gone and white-hot pain shot through her eyes as they explode from the sensitive color of deep violet to a glowing gold. Without pausing, Aria ran towards Sakura's tent, blinking away the pain. The assassin fully expected to see the master assassin to step from the young girl's tent, holding Sakura's beheaded body; instead, a pink blur shot from the tent and barreled toward Aria, who only just moved her daggers to avoid running the girl through the stomach. Sakura ran straight into Aria and clung to the older woman's waist, trembling with fear. The assassin did a mental check on the younger girl to make sure it wasn't a clone or a deception, finding no trickery; Aria untangled herself from the girl and dove into the tent.

What she found was not at all what she had expected. A huge, hairy spider was perched on Sakura's pillow, looking straight at her with its many eyes. Aria stooped down and plucked the arachnid from the pillow and held it up, inspecting it from every angle, trying to decode any type of trick. It was a normal spider, not even poisonous...

Numbly, Aria stepped from the tent, still shaking uncontrollably. Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi had joined the women outside and were all looking at her strangely. At the sight of the spider in her hand, Sakura screamed again and jumped behind Naruto who looked dazed. "What's going on?" Sasuke asked.

When Aria didn't answer, Sakura turned to Sasuke "I…woke up to find that thing crawling on me." She panted. Sasuke looked at Sakura strangely.

"It's a spider. You've fought bloodthirsty ninjas and you're afraid of a spider?"

Sakura shot him a fierce look "They are so gross, spiders just sneak up on you from nowhere and creep onto you before biting into you flesh with their fangs." she retorted.

Naruto looked at Aria and suddenly appeared in front of her. "You guys, I don't think Aria's breathing!" he shouted, pressing his face inches from the assassin's. "Breath, Aria!" he screamed.

"A…spider." Was all Aria could manage, "It…was…only…a spider." She continued dumbly. Naruto nodded and reached for the creature in Aria's hand, making to crush it. Quickly, Aria's clouded eyes cleared and she jerked back her hand. "It is okay, Naruto, I'll just put this away from camp."

Adrenaline was coursing through Aria's blood and her heart was pounding so hard that she thought that it would simply stop. If she didn't move, her mind would break and insanity would overtake her. Without another word, Aria turned and crashed through the bushes and ran. When judged herself to be far enough, Aria let the spider down on a branch and watched for a moment as is scuttled into the leaves. Suddenly, Aria fell against a nearby tree and took deep breathes, trying to calm her mind, body, and soul.

The only thing that Aria truly feared in life was the Master Assassin. She had escaped his grasp and was the only one to ever have done so and lived. The reason that she had abandoned her home was that the he had threatened her with a torture worse than death itself; he had wanted her eyes and expected her to give them willingly. For the transplant to be successful, Aria would have to be alive during the surgery and would not be able to take any type of drug. She had panicked and fled. The one of the guild master's many powers was that he was basicallyimmortal; he wouldn't be able to die of natural causes and would always be hunting her.

If the Assassin's Code didn't forbid her to commit suicide, Aria would have plunged the dagger in her hand into her own heart years ago. After what seemed like an eternity, Aria's breathe became more even and her heart calmed down, letting the risk of heart attack pass. Aria now faced a battle between her commitments to the Code that she was sworn to follow and the instinct to run as fast as she could far away. At last, her mind won out over her primal instincts and she straightened. Right, the first goal was to keep her charges safe; she would not let them get into danger. Perhaps after she arrived in Konoha she would do something differently, but until then she would guard them with her life.

When Aria stepped back into camp, she found all four of the ninjas still frozen in the same positions that she had left them in. In a flash, Naruto appeared in front on her. "Are you okay?" he questioned.

Aria let out an exasperated sigh and pushed Naruto away firmly. "Naruto, have you ever heard of something called 'personal space?' I swear that if don't stop acting like your sensei, one day some girl is going to pummel you to the ground."

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but Sasuke cut him off. "Kakashi-sensei, what happened to your tent?"

Everyone turned to look at the huge slash that had marred the cloth. Aria colored a bit and put her hand behind her head. "Uh, um, sorry about that. Here, I'll patch it up before we leave." Quickly, Aria turned to her pack and pulled out a thread and needle. Before anyone could react, the assassin dashed over to the tent and narrowed her gaze on the rip; she expertly stitched the cloth together, careful not to leave any weak spots.

Kakashi watched in amazement, still trying to comprehend what had happened, one minute the girl looked like she had seen death itself and the next she was stitching up his tent. "Go start breakfast." Hecommanded the three young ninjas. When he felt them leave, Kakashi walked quietly over to the young woman who was now working on another rip on the other side of the tent. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"You have a few weak areas in the fabric, I'm just reinforcing them." She answered without breaking away from her work.

"I see…" Kakashi answered thoughtfully before deciding to ask the question that had been plaguing his thoughts all morning. "What are you afraid of?"

The sliver-haired ninja watched as Aria faltered in her work and miss the fabric. The woman's hand began to tremble slightly, but otherwise, Aria's face remained stoic. "What are you talking about?" she asked so quietly that Kakashi had to lean closer to hear her.

Kakashi's hand shot forward and grabbed Aria's. In one movement, he swung her around and smashed her into a tree, pressing his own body flush against her. Kakashi lifted his headband to reveal his red eye so he could take in her reactions more closely. There was a haunted look in the assassin's eyes that he hadn't noticed before and her skin was pale. There was only way to make her better...and that was to make her angry.

Aria had been caught by surprise and was mentally berating herself mercilessly. She should have been paying more attention to her surroundings, but instead she had been thinking about what she feared most. It was true then: fear clouds the judgment and mind. Now this idiot had her pinned _again. _The adrenaline rush had already dissipated and with it her strength. "Let go of me."

Kakashi smirked behind his mask and looked her in the eye. He knew that her strength was gone and for that matter, his students...perfect. "No, I don't think I will." He answered nonchalantly. "At least until you tell me what has you so afraid; any fool would know when an assassin such as yourself shows fear, there is a good reason for it." Aria leered at him and suddenly spit in his face.

_That was disgusting._ Kakashi thought with a scowl. _Oh well, it gives me an excuse…_

Kakashi pressed his body harder against the girl, watching with some satisfaction as a spark appeared in her golden eyes. Wiping his face with one hand, Kakashi leaned closer to Aria so that he could feel her warm breath beneath his mask. "Hmmm, this feels nice, since you won't tell me the information I need, I think I'll be content with this." Kakashi saw as Aria's eyes widen and her arrogant look disappeared for a minute but then it flickered back to life.

"I don't have to tell you anything, ninja. You forget that if you lake advantage of me right now, my oath is shattered and I will kill you, along with the rest of your little friends without a second's thought."

"No, Aria, I didn't forget that little detail; I'm better than that and I won't ever take advantage of you, but we will remain in this position until you tell me what I need to know."

Fire was practically pouring out of Aria's eyes as Kakashi spoke. "Fine, you really want to know?" she spat, venom dripping with her words "I left the Assassin's Guild a few years ago and the Master Assassin has been hunting me ever since. He is the ONLY thing that I fear."

Kakashi looked at her strangely but did not release his grip. "You're afraid of a man who calls himself the 'master assassin?' We can help, Aria, when we get to Konoha you, me, a few other ANBU ninjas can take care of him."

Aria's eyes widened in shock and she began to tremble more violently beneath Kakashi's body. "No." she stated quietly.

Kakashi looked at the fear that had suddenly come back into her eyes and felt his heart be engulfed with hatred. Who did this man think he was, hunting down Aria? "You seemed to forget Aria that you have to do what I say."

Suddenly, Aria felt a surge of energy and she quickly took Kakashi by the shoulders and flipped him around to their positions were reversed. "No. I honestly don't care what I swore. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING will ever make me go actually seek him out. This man has power beyond your wildest dreams and knows how to use it. There are worse things than death, Kakashi. Torture would be a blessing to what this man does to those around him. If even TRY to make me seek him out, I will kill you. It will be the best thing, believe me. I would be doing you a mercy."

Aria was panting and her face was white. _Trying to FIND the master assassin? That is the dumbest of all stupid ideas that have ever been unfortunate enough to pass through the minds of men. _Aria slowly backed away and turned back to her work, hands still trembling. "I'm sorry Kakashi, but there are some things that should not be spoken to anyone. You hide your face, and I hide my past. We should arrive in Konoha a little after noon if we leave in an hour." With that, Aria began to shove all her things into her pack.

After a moment, sonorous laughter filled the camp. Aria turned around to see Kakashi laughing so hard that tears filled his eye. "I can't believe that it worked" he said between fits of laughter. Aria narrowed her eyes at him, only succeeding in making him laugh harder.

"What worked?" Aria demanded.

"Making you mad, you're back to your stubborn, wonderful you." Kakashi cracked an eye open and looked Aria hard in the eyes.

"You did that to make me angry?" Aria seethed. "Are you insane? I could have killed you!" Kakashi simplykept laughing and finally fell to the ground.

"You should have seen yourself. I thought for a minute that your head might explode." Aria let out an enraged yell and rushed straight at the man. Kakashi soonrealized that he might be in forbodily harm if he didn't get outof there quickly,and quickly dodged the rampaging red-head; he stopped laughing and jumped up to the trees, followed by Aria.

"Get back here you creepy pervert!" she screamed.

Kakashi had seen the look on Aria's face and had no intention of slowing down. Suddenly, the three students appeared and Naruto and Sasuke jumped up in attempts to save their sensei. Aria literally ran straight through them. "I'm going toKILL him!" she growled.

At last, it took all three of the students to dog-pile Aria, and even then, she continued to kick and punch, catching Naruto accidentally in the face. "What did you do!" Sakura screamed above the mighty curses that were now sprouting from Aria's mouth.

"I just had a little talk with her…" Kakashi explained innocently.

"A LITTLE TALK?" Aria screeched. "THAT PERVERT PRESSED ME AGAINST A TREE AND DELIBERATELY INVADED MY PRIVACY JUST TO MAKE ME MAD. WELL GUESS WHAT? IT WORKED!"

Sasuke looked at Aria, then at Kakashi, and then back again. "Alright, the only way to settle this is for Aria and Kakashi to have a fair fight. Aria, you have to promise not to kill or do any permanent damage to him, do you promise?"

"You bet, I'm going to enjoy this." Aria replied instantly. Quickly, all three students scrambled off the young assassin and too much of Kakashi's dismay, watched her charge head-on at the Copy Ninja. Aria was past the initial anger and suddenly honed in on Kakashi, analyzing every movement of every muscle. She watched him prepare to move to the left, even though he was feigning to the right.

Instantly, Aria turned and brought her leg back into the man's stomach. Kakashi's eyes opened wide as he fell to the ground. Aria had the look of a machine and was acting without anger, empathy, or anything at all; the assassin came at him again and unsheathed her twin daggers.

Kakashi took out his kunai and blocked the series of vicious attacks; she matched him skill-for-skill and Kakashi still had the impression that she was holding back. Not having any other choice, Kakashi stuck at her face. Aria obviously had seen that attack coming and easily spun out of danger, sending another kick at the man's stomach.

Aria watched Kakashi dodge the kick and sent a few punches his way, catching him in the chest, jaw, and arm. Instantly, she dropped to the ground and sent a round-house kick at his feet. When the ninja dodged those attacks, she rushed at him again, getting past his defenses. Not wanting to make any mistakes, Aria preformed a series of attacks that resulted with Kakashi on the forest floor with Aria's two daggers crossed against his throat and her knee on his spine.

"Stop, Aria, you won!" Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura yelled in unison. They hadn't needed to worry because Aria had already sheathed her daggers and was hulling Kakashi up.

"That was amazing!" Naruto exclaimed when he saw that Aria did not have the intention of shredding his sensei into ribbons. Suddenly, Naruto leaned down and plucked something from the ground. "Hey, what is this thing?" he asked.

Aria turned around and saw what he was holding, instinctively, Aria moved forward to take it from him. "Naruto, don't press-" her warning was cut off when Naruto's finger pressed the cool, black surface and a blinding light filled the clearing. Luckily for the four ninjas, their eyes weren't as sensitive to strobe light and so they only saw white spots for a moment. Aria, however, fell back in; pain coursed through her eyes. The assassin fell to the ground, clutching her eyes and pressing her head against the cool earth. _Damn._

A firm hand pressed down on her shoulder. "Aria, what's wrong?" Kakashi asked in a shaky voice.

Aria looked up and opened her eyes, team seven all took in a collected breath; Aria's eyes were as white as a new snowfall. Hearing their gasp, Aria offered a feeble smile and waved them off. "It's no problem; I'm just going to be blind for a minute. Go get breakfast and pack, I'll be there in a minute."

"What are you talking about? We aren't going to leave you in middle of the forest blind!" Sakura shouted. Aria turned her gaze toward the sound.

"Listen to me, I'm going to have to do something to make myself able to see again and I can't show any of you what it is, do you understand? I'll be fine." Aria answered with a smile when she didn't hear anyone move, she sighed, "If you don't leave, I'm going to be blind forever and I really don't think you want that."

At last Aria felt the four members of the squad leave reluctantly. Suddenly, a thud sounded nearby and Aria turned so that she was facing the sound. "What was so important that you decided to blind me, Uio?" A large hand suddenly wrapped itself around Aria's head and she allowed the newcomer to tilt her head back and pour a liquid into her eyes.

The assassin blinked as her vision cleared as if a white veil was suddenly lifted from her eyes. A large, burly face was looking at her curiously and she immediately sat up. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Uio?"

The large man put out a large hand and picked Aria up and carried her to a nearby tree and placing her against it gently. Then, he stood and looked down on her. Aria watched him in expectation, having to look up at the seven feet that he stood. "You got yourself caught, didn't you?" He finally said.

Aria gritted her teeth and looked him in the eyes. "Yes, Hatake Kakashi and his team rescued me from death in the river." This was Uio, another assassin that was almost always on her squad during co-missions; he, Hiyu, and Aria were a deadly trio and they had become like siblings. Uio, like the others possessed a certain gifts; he could pass through any type of solid object and was gifted or cursed whichever way one looked at it with amazing strength and a special ability to heal. Despite those abilities, Uio had taken a deep liking to Aria and often acted as her protector, it was strange that he decided to blind her.

"Hiyu told me that you were in the company of that ninja, he also said that he hurt you with his whip. Where is the wound?" When Aria didn't answer, Uio flashed an exasperated look. "If you let me help you, I'll give you news."

Aria's curiosity was touched, but she had to get back to the others and this was just wasting her time. "He hit me on the back, but I used the stuff you gave me a while ago and it's fine. You need to get out of here and tell Hiyu to take a dive off a cliff."

The large man laughed and Aria winced at the noise "I came to tell you that we followed your example and left the Master Assassin."

"WHAT?" Aria nearly screamed "Please tell me that you're kidding, you know what happens to those that betray him." Aria searched her companion's face and, to her dread, a green flash erupted from his mouth.

Uio put up a large hand and his face turned serious "Hiyu and I both know that, but we also know that we can't stand around and participate in hunting out closest friend. After his fight, Hiyu and I decided to leave and find someone to teach us the Assassin's Code." Uio beamed down at Aria, obviously very pleased with himself.

Another flash of green appeared and Aria put a hand to her face, suddenly overcome with the urge to scream at the stupidity around her. "Arg! Uio, you have no idea how happy it makes me that you have decided to join the Code, but what were you thinking leaving the Master Assassin? I joined the Code and was a part the Assassin's Guild."

Uio looked at her curiously "We were hoping that you would be willing to teach us the Code, and I told you that we couldn't stand to hunt you anymore."

Aria shot him a glare "How do you propose that I teach you the Code when I'm supposed to watch over these ninjas? No, I'll give you a location to another member's home and he can teach you, I've got my hands full."

The giant before her looked her over and then towards camp "I could take care of them for you." he mused.

Aria gave her companion a horrified look "No, these people are good and they are innocent...well for the most part. I can't let that happen."

"Aria?" a voice suddenly cut though the forest. Aria instantly recognized it as Kakashi's. Hurriedly, Aria took out a sheet of paper and scribbled some directions on it.

"Here, take this and go. If he finds me here with you, he won't trust me enough to protect him. I trust you, Uio and tell Hiyu that I'm sorry; I wish you luck, now go!"

Aria watched silently as Uio took the paper and stuffed it into his vest before giving her one last look and finally sinking into the ground. Aria watched the place where her friend had disappeared for a moment before getting up and making her way toward camp.

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Ah, I hope I didn't disappoint anyone with this chapter--I really don't like it very much but it's necessaryfor the plot. Anyway, review and tell me what you think!

--Sandsifter


	6. Saying Farewell to Orange

Disclaimer: You know, this really is pointless, but I suppose I have to say it anyway: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! I do, however own Aria and any characters I may add in later chapters.

Note: Once again, thank you for all the reviews and I hope to see some more after this chapter. Thanks so much and hope you like this chapter! ------Sandsifter

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"Come in" a voice called from the other side of the wooden door. Kakashi blinked; he hadn't even knocked yet. Shooting Aria a quick glance, hesaw her looking straight ahead with a reserved expression. 

"Shall we?" He asked. Aria nodded and together they entered the Hokage's office. Tsunade looked at Aria with curiosity. "Kakashi, why have to brought the Golden Assassin to our village?" she asked calmly.

Aria leaned against the wall and looked around with a bored expression; the question was obviously directed at Kakashi and she knew that this woman wasn't going to address her right now. Kakashi shot the assassin a look and then turned to Tsunade "Naruto fished her out the river and-" Kakashi was cut off when Tsunade waved him off and spoke to Aria.

"Let me see it." She demanded. Aria blinked in surprise; not many people knew about the signs that an assassin took on to prove his or her loyalty to the Code. Carefully, Aria pulled off her right glove and turned her hand towards the woman. Tsunade got up to inspect her hand; a swirling pattern of two crossed daggers was etched on Aria's palm from a sharp blade that created an intricate pattern. After a quick nod from Tsunade, Aria replaced her glove and returned the older woman's stare.

"May I see the contract?" Tsunade asked _almost_ gently.

Aria looked at her and clenched her jaw, but reached into her vest and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper that was placed over her heart. Reverently, Aria unfolded it and held it up for Tsunade to inspect. The woman hovered close to the paper; Aria was somewhatimpressed; it was considered the highest offence for a non-member to touch another copy of the Code. The piece of paper was Aria's prized possession; she had written the Code carefully and without any mistakes in her own blood and she protected it ferociously.

Suddenly, Tsunade straightened and returned to her desk. Carefully, Aria slipped the paper back into her vest and tucked it safely away. The assassin looked around the room for a moment before being jerked back to reality by Tsunade's voice.

"Funny, I thought you were a man. It seems that this world is full of surprises. Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't order the ninjas just outside this room to kill you."

Aria looked at the Hokage unblinkingly and addressed her in a clearly bored tone "There isn't any reason why you shouldn't; it would be a welcome change for me. If I were you though, I would fix that loose board before you order anyone to attack; it could prove an advantage for me. You are obviously an expert on the Assassin's Code and know that I will fight for self-defense, but I won't harm you otherwise."

Anger clouded Tsunade's face "Are you daring to threaten me, the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" the womennearly screamed.

Aria met her gaze calmly, only resulting in making the Hokage angrier "Please, I meant no offence, I was merely stating facts and I wouldn't get to high on your ego, my friend. There are quite a few assassins, including myself, that have been offered the job of killing you."

Tsunade's anger dissipated and was replaced by curiosity, "Really, who?" she asked. Aria shrugged and answered in a monotone.

"I'm sorry. I can't discuss previous employers, but lucky for you, no one has accepted the job yet."

Suddenly, Tsunade erupted into laughter, making Aria nearly jump; she swore this woman was bipolar or something. "I like you, young assassin; you have a strong sense of duty and I think that you would be perfectly safe in our village if you simply swear that you will not kill any citizens, and if you do, I will simply kill you myself."

Aria nodded slowly and promptly told her oath, which wasn't really necessary since she was bound to the Code anyway. "Now," Tsunade began, pouring a glass of tea for Aria, who quickly checked it for any poison before drinking it thirsty, "there are a few issues we must discuss before anyone moves. One, I believe that the fact that you are an assassin should not leave this room." She said, looking purposely at Kakashi "Next, there is the matter of sleeping arrangements."

"I have plenty of money to buy a room at an inn or a small apartment." Aria answered swiftly before two men suddenly burst through the door and Aria turned, flicking her daggers from her wrists. Tsunade and Kakashi saw the movement and both dived toward Aria, preventing her from putting the men into death-grips for questioning.

"Hello Gai and Iruka." Tsunade said with a sly smile "I was just discussing with Aria here where she stays while visiting us. Would either of you be interested in taking her in?" Both men looked at Aria for a moment before eagerly volunteering.

_This can't get any worse. _Aria thought to herself mournfully while putting the daggers away. The two men were looking at her with amazement and she was tempted to slap them. "Really, Tsunade, I can pay for it myself, I-"

"Nonsense Aria, you are our guest and I insist on letting you stay; free of charge." Tsunade exclaimed, not bothering to hide her evil little smile.

"See can stay with me," Kakashi suggested, "after all, she did come with me."

"NO!" Aria nearly shouted, "I, mean, I would _REALLY_ rather stay at an inn." _In his dreams, I will NOT stay with that pervert! _

Suddenly, Gai appeared in front of her, taking her hand in his and looking up at her longingly. "You can stay with me, my dear. Forget my eternal rival and his perverted ways." Gai made to kiss Aria's hand and she panicked. Jerking her gloved hand up, Aria laughed nervously and stepped back.

"Uh, that's very nice but I-" Aria stuttered, not used to people flirting with her. After all, who in their right mind would flirt with the Master Assassin's onlyfemale student, especially with Hiyu and Uio always over her shoulder?

Suddenly, Iruka put a hand on Aria's shoulder and smiled. "Listen, I have an extra room and it would be perfect for you." Aria looked at him carefully, analyzing his face in search of a hidden intention, but couldn't find any. The young assassin looked back up at him and smiled back.

"That would be great, thank you." She finally consented.

Kakashi watched the exchange with growing horror and anger. Who did these idiots think they were? And Aria called _Him_ a pervert. Suddenly, he appeared next to Aria and shot Iruka a withering look. "Aria, are you forgetting why you're here? No, you are going to stay with me." With that, Kakashi bowed to a smirking Tsunade and dragged Aria out of the room with a last murderous glance to each of the other men.

Aria had seen the look in Kakashi's darkeye and it had shocked her. There was a murderous glint to it and she waited until they were out of the building before ripping her hand from Kakashi's grasp. "Who do YOU think you are?" she demanded, "I didn't forget why I'm here, but that doesn't mean that you can control everything I do."

Kakashi looked at the woman and was about to answer but suddenly the two men erupted from the building and rushed towards Aria. Gai somehow arrived there first and smiled at Aria. "I apologize for my forward invitation Aria; please allow me to take you out to the nearest ramen restaurant."

Before Aria could say anything else, Gai was propelling her into the crowd. "Uh, okay."

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Aria was totally bewildered and overwhelmed by the information that constantly rushed into her eyes from the colorful and new city. Gai was babbling something and sheseriously considered knocking him out just to make him shut up.

"And then I kicked Kakashi in the stomach, sending-" Gai rattled on and on and on and on...

Aria narrowed her eyes at him and waited for his grip to suddenly loosen. Just as a large crowd of people knocked into them, Aria gracefully slipped from his grasp and took off at a run through the dark alleys. Behind her Gai was obviously confused and thought that they had been separated by accident.

Aria ran hard and eventually came to a cliff where the faces of past Hokages were carved into the earth. Glancing around furtively, Aria secured her pack toher backand grasped the cliff, swinging her legs to get a better grip. If anyone had chanced a glance her way, they might have just thought her to be a shadow.

Finally, Aria came to the top of the structure and lay down on the cool rocks trying to catch her breath. She honestly couldn't care less what that dumb Hokage said; she wasn't going to stay with _any_ man that she hardly knew. If Hiyu and Uio had been back there when Gai had tried to kiss her hand, they would have beaten him to a pulp several times over. Aria smiled and looked up at the orange and pink clouds that marked the coming of sunset. She really missed them.

Assassins that decided to join the Code were required to train under an experienced member; the training included many testsalong with a completememorization of the Code. When the training was complete, the new affiliates would write the Code on a piece of paper from memory in their own blood, and would have the pattern of the assassins carved into their palm.

Aria slowly took off her glove and stared at the scars that made the pattern for a moment. She smiled at the memory, that moment had been both the most painful and happiest in her life. It had been an odd combination of emotions, but belonging to the Code had given her a tiny piece of honor to hold onto.

Then, Aria thoughts came back to the look on Kakashi's face as Iruka offered her his apartment. It was filled of an emotion that she hadn't seen in a long time: Jealousy. Could the silver-haired man be jealous of her? No, that was stupid, ridiculous, and yet it made sense. Aria had a huge repertoire of skills, but one of them was not relationships. Flirting was not something that assassins did and she was no exception.

Aria replaced her glove and stood up, looking out over the village. It was beautiful in the setting sun and this spot provided the perfect place to watch for any danger that might come.

"What are you doing?"

Aria jumped and spun around only to come face-to-face with Kakashi. Unfortunately, in doing so, Aria lost her balance and slipped off the side of the cliff. In a flash, Aria spun around and caught the rock with one of her hands. Grunting with the effort, AriaallowedKakashi todrag her further away from the side of the cliff.

"People normally don't enjoy others creeping up on them while they are thinking." Aria hissed between breaths.

Kakashi looked at her and put a hand behind his head. "Sorry, habit."

"Yeah, yeah, well next time you should just push me off the side of the cliff." Aria shot back. "What are you doing up here?"

Kakashi looked at Aria strangely, "I asked you first." Aria looked back at him in amazement; this guy was immpossible.

"I got away from that idiot Gai. I'm telling you if I hear about one more battle where he kicked your butt I think I'm going to scream. I came up here to get away from perverts, but apparently they're everywhere in this village. Now you answer my question."

Kakashi could hardly contain the smile that threatened to burst from his mouth. "I was looking for you and figured that this was the best way to see everything that went around the village."

"Why exactly were you looking for me?" Aria asked nervously. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? Her stupid face was blushing and she hoped that the sunset covered it up.

Kakashi grinned through his mask and shrugged,"I was going to save you from the antics of Gai and was going to show you how to get back to my house."

Aria snorted and looked away "If I had any intention of staying with you, I would have simply tracked your footprints and I am fully capable of saving myself from dumb, arrogant men. You, Kakashi don't need to worry about me; this is the perfect place to carry out my job."

Aria stretched out on the rock and watched the sun disappear beyond the mountains. The violet color snapped into focus around her eyes and she was suddenly come over by a new sharpness in her vision. "That's too bad Aria," Kakashi said slyly, "I thought that you were going to take me up on the offer and come quietly, but if you insist to be difficult, I'm going to have take drastic measures."

Aria's eyes snapped open and she jumped up. "Don't even think about it!" She screamed.

Kakashi made a few hand signals "Doppelganger Jutsu!" he yelled. Two more copies of Kakashi appeared and suddenly surrounded Aria. Seeing the situation called for a retreat, Aria kept her eyes locked on the real Kakashi and suddenly turned around and ran.

"Get away from me you creep!" she screamed while running down the other side of the cliff. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw two Kakashi clones bounding on each of her, they each wore a smirk that made Aria want to beat them to the ground. Quickly, Aria took out the throwing knives that were secured on her calves and threw one at each clone making them disappear in puffs of grey smoke. Suddenly, the real Kakashi appeared in front of her and she immediately crashed into his chest.

He grinned down at her before literally tossing her over his shoulder. Aria began to beat the man on the back mercilessly. "Let go of me you jerk!" she screamed again.

"Are you going to come peacefully?" Kakashi asked innocently like she was the one who was being difficult.

"In your dreams, I'd rather eat Hiyu's socks." Aria shot back and continued to struggle. "What is your obsession with getting into everyone's business?"

"Ah, I'm just nosey when it comes to pretty girls." Kakashi said. Aria suddenly twisted in an impossible angle and flipped away from the man. She hit the ground running, snatching her two daggers from the clones. Behind her, she could hear Kakashi chasing after her.

"What's the matter old man, can't keep up?" Aria taunted behind her. With a graceful movement, she jumped up into a tree and swung around the branches, careful to keep an eye on the Jounin in front of her at all times.

"How old do you think I am anyway?" Kakashi yelled as he followed her higher into the branches.

Aria looked at his hair and smiled "I think most people would think that you were around forty or maybe even sixty." Aria had read Kakashi's file before and knew that he was twenty-four but she couldn't help to tease him.

"Just because I have silver hair doesn't mean that I'm old. I'm only twenty-four." Kakashi tripped with shock and was now falling through the branches, trying to land on his feet. Aria swooped out of nowhere and hooked her legs around a branch and caught the falling man with her hands.

"I said most people; I know you're only twenty-four." Aria stated. "Alright, I'm going to pull you up, but only if you promise not to try and pick me up, got it?"

Kakashi looked up at the assassin and then at the ground. "Fine." He huffed.

Aria saw the flash of green come from his mouth and then yanked him up into the branch. "What is with you?" she asked. "I'm an assassin, not a friend. You shouldn't be inviting me into your home."

Kakashi looked at her for a moment before answering "You don't have to be alone, Aria. Stop acting like no one cares about you. I do, so do Naruto, Sauske, and Sakura. We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Honestly, when I saw Iruka offer to let you live with him, I got angry, really angry. Come on, I have room for both of us at my house."

Aria looked at him for a minute, her mouth open so wide that passing birds would have tried to nest in it. "Listen, no offence, I think you guys are great, but I really don't think that getting to be friends is a good idea. I have plenty of things out here to keep me occupied and I'll be safe. Being inside makes me nervous, so I'll just camp out here and I'll meet up with you later." With that, Aria stood up and jumped down into the brush.

Kakashi sighed and preformed a few transporting Justus and found himself back at his house. _She is so difficult. I wonder what she sees when she looks at me._

Aria waited until she was sure Kakashi was gone before sitting down on the soft, forest floor. Aria pulled out her cloak and wrapped it around herself to keep out the cold and settled down into a troubled sleep.

* * *

**FLASHBACK:**

"Ah, get off of me! Leave me alone!" a young boy cried out. His blue eyes flashed and tears welled up in his eyes.

"You think you can just go into other people's minds, huh punk?" An older boy of about eight threatened.

"No, I swear, I didn't go into your mind, please stop it that hurts." The younger boy cried out againas the other boys began to kick him in the stomach.

Aria heard the shouts down the hall and began to run towards them. When she saw a group of boys beating the younger child, she flew at them in a fury. "Leave him alone you jerks!" The older boys took one look at her flaringgolden eyes and fled. Silently, Aria walked over to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what were you thinking? Those boys are too strong to fight by yourself."

The younger boy looked down,and didn't meet the girl's eyes. "Thanks. I guess they don't like me for my power."

"What can you do?"

"Oh, when I look into someone's eyes I can sort of read his or her mind and sometimes take control of the body. Those boys thought I was reading their minds, but I wasn't!" The boy began to cry again. Aria squatted down next to the boy and gently wiped his tears away with her finger. He was six, just like her.

"Don't worry about them, I'll protect you. They think I'm a freak too because I'm the only girl here. Can you read my mind?" The boy looked up and stared at Aria's eyes for a moment and then shook his head in wonder.

"How do you do that? I can't see anything."

Aria laughed. "I'm a special kind of Seer and I guess my eyes block it out. See these eyes? They can see anything; guess what? They change color at night and day."

The boy smiled up at the girl and smiled. "That's pretty cool. You're the only person who was ever nice to me. Can you keep a secret?" Aria nodded and looked at him eagerly.

"Well, I found out my name." The boy whispered.

Aria gasped and looked at him. "Wow, how did you do that?"

"I read the man's mind at the corner. All of the names of every person here was on his mind. I'm called Hiyu." Hiyu smiled with pride I know your name too, do want to know your name?" Aria hesitated for a moment; that kind of information was secret and forbidden. Reluctantly, she nodded and looked at Hiyu fearfully. Hiyu looked excitedly at her and leaned forward so no one could hear them. "Your name is Aria." Hiyu whispered.

"Aria." The girl repeated softly as if tasting the wordin her mouth.Suddenly, she stuck out her hand smiled at the other boy. "I like it. Nice to meet you, Hiyu. We're going to be friends from now on."

**END FLASHBACK**

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Aria woke up early and quickly took a bath in a nearby river and pulled on her only pair of clean clothes: a pair of simple, black trousers, a black shirt, and her black vest. Carefully, she wrapped her wet hair up in a tight bun and secured it with a decorative comb before putting her veils and cloak. Today she was going to be the Golden Assassin. Kakashi was _so_ going to pay for what he did last night. Smiling wickedly behind her veils, Aria took off at a run to the nearest village... 

It took her until two-o-clock to get all of them, but she had completed the task. Looking down in her arms, Aria grimaced at the pile of bright orange books. Silently, Aria crept into the forest and tossed them on the already huge mound of them and suddenly pulled out a match, and ceremoniously set them all on fire. It seemed like a very solemn occasion and Aria took the liberity of personally spitting on thenearest book.

Throughout the day she had been to every village nearby and had taken every copy of the book. It was funny how willingly people handed over the books when they thought it was the Golden Assassin behind the veils.

Of course, Aria had paid for each one, so it technically wasn't stealing. Now, only Konoha was left to be cleansed. Silently, Aria slipped into the town and quickly took each book without the owner ever noticing, always remembering to drop a few coins in its place. If Tsunade heard that it was the Golden Assassin behind the uh, 'cleansing.' Aria's plan would have been a bust.

When she was done, Aria took off her veils and cloak. She then looked at the ground and searched it for Kakashi's footprints. Instantly, she recognized his shoe print and matched it to his stride. Aria suddenly took off in search of his home.

It was so easy to find it that Aria was almost disappointed. The building was an apartment complex and his room was Room 11. His room was right below the roof, so Aria simply jumped up, hooked her legs around the gutter, and dropped down so she could look into the apartment. He obviously wasn't home, so Aria took out a liquid that Uio had given her once and applied it to window.

Next, she took out a pin from her auburnhair and quickly picked the lock, lifting the window up easily. Aria smiled in triumph and swung into the room, landing without a sound. Being an assassin had its advantages. Aria proceeded through the room so carefully that even if she checked the room with her own eyes, nothing would seem out of place.

The room was extremely simple. A grey couch was situated in the entrance way, no pictures hung from the white-washed walls, and a single twin-sized bed was located in the bedroom with a closet and a-ah a bookshelf. Aria scowled in disgust as she looked over the rows of bright orange books. _Dumb pervert._ Aria thought as she lifted each book from its place so carefully that the dust around them wasn't even disturbed.

Aria look a quick glance around and suddenly saw two pictures on the shelf above the books. One was a picture of Kakashi and Team Seven, the other was a picture of Kakashi with a man and a smiling woman. Aria looked at the picture carefully, the woman was smiling and had her arm draped around Kakashi's neck. No indication told Aria that the woman was alive or the other man; both were obviously dead, but the picture made her throat constrict.

Aria suddenly turned on her heel, carrying the books in her arms and dove out the window, locking it as she left. Nothing besides the books had been touched.

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Later, Kakashi walked back into his apartment sullenly. Aria hadn't appeared all day and he was getting worried. Althoughhewould rather fling himself off a cliff than admit such a fact.He knew she would find him when she was ready, but images of her fighting that Hiyu kept flashing through his head. Silently, he opened his door and stepped in. It was about five-o-clock and he was hungry, sweaty, and ready to curl up with his newestbook. Kakashi walked over to the bathroom and quickly took a shower to clean off the grime that he had collected while training his team.

After changing into a clean Jounin outfit, Kakashi walked into his room and reached up to grab a book; nothing was there.Taking a deep, calming breath,Kakashi looked at the shelf dumbly for a moment. Nothing was there. What would aburglar want with histake his books...…Aria.

Kakashi smacked his forehead in frustration and checked the window. There was no way for her get in. "Damn!" Without another moment's hesitation, the distraut shinobi flew out the door and pelted to the nearest bookstore.


	7. Dinner

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto, that's why it's called 'fanfiction!' Anyway, I would like to point out that I do own Aria and any other original characters of my own design...Enjoy the next chapter!

Warning: Fluff alert!

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Kakashiflew all around town, trying to find a store with a copy, but the story was the same everywhere: each store was magically out of books, but inthier place was a small pouch ofcoins. Aria had cleaned out every store in town and no one had ever seen her.Putting on his darkest expression that sent ememies screaming in terror before him, he changed his course to search for a certain red-headed assassin.

Unfortunatly for his three lovely students, they happened to get in his way.

"Kakashi-sensei!" a shout echoed from the training grounds. Naruto leapt down and ran over to his second-favorite sensei and eagerly greeted the seething silver-haired ninja. When Kakashi kept walking, Sakuraand Sasuke exhanged a wary glance and frantically attempted to call the loud-mouthed boy back.

Thier attempts went unnoticed by Naruto as he suddenly appeared in front of the Jounin's path. "Hey Kakashi-sensei! I'm talking ot you!" The older man still didn't answer as he took a deep, cleansing breath. Naruto however was not to be ignored. Without warning, he snorted and turned away with a pout "Fine, I'll go find Aria to hang out with!"

That set the ninja off. Rarely did he ever lose his cool; only when his teammates were in danger or somebody insulted his village. The fact though that someone had DARED mess with his reading material pushed him off the deep end. Slowly turning around, Kakashi fixed his dark eye on Naruto and glowered at him with the upmost danger that screamed 'Get out of my face or die!'

All three teenagers stepped back and drew closer together. Yes, thier normally mild-tempered mentor had finnally snapped. It was a shame really to lose such a noble andstrong ninja, but they all knew that Kakashi had never really been all there in the first place.

Grinding his teeth together, Kakashi spoke in a deadly tone. "Aria...stole...BOOK!" With that wealth of information, he disappeared in puff of grey smoke.

The three young ninjas exchanged glances and shuttered with wide eyes. That was scary...

"Hey guy!"

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all spun around and looked at the source of the new voice. There, standing behind them was Aria, dressed in all black with a beaming expression.

Sakura was the first to speak up, "Aria, what did you do to Kakashi-sensei?"

The assassin grinned and looked at the sky. "I had a bon-fire..."Aria paused for effect and then looked down at the teenagers "with Kakashi's books as kindle."

All three members of team seven gasped in horror. "Oh my gosh, Aria, you are so dead! Kakashi loves those books more than anything on earth and he is going to kill you!" Naruto announced.

Aria cocked an eyebrow and looked at the younger students. "Hmmm, you think he's really that mad huh?" all three ninjas nodded vigorously. "Oh, alright I'll go talk to him." with that, the assassin leapt off and dissapeared.

When she was gone, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto all bowed thier heads in sorrow and sent a silent pray for poor Aria.

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Kakashi stumbled back to his apartment in anger and frustration. Not only were his beloved books missing, but so was the culprit...Aria. He wasn't all that mad anymore, no, all he wanted were his books and then he would be a happy man again. Opening the door, he flicked on the lights and looked inside.

There, one his sofa, was the Golden Assassin, causally cleaning her daggers in the dark as if nothing had happened.

When she saw him, she offered asmile and waved. "Hey Kakashi, sorry for the intrusion, but I knocked a bunch of times. People started to look at me strangely, so I came in through the window. Where have you been?"

Kakashi looked at the woman for a moment before silently closing the door and locking it. "You stole them didn't you?" he accused.

Aria looked at him thoughtfully"I have no idea what you are talking about." She sheathed her dagger and then sat up. "And even if I did, I believe that money was left in each place." Aria was smirking and her eyes danced with laughter.

Kakashi was in her face in a second "I'll just go to the next town to get them." Kakashi said. Aria tensed a bit and smoothly tightened her grip on her weapons.

Aria didn't blink, but looked at him even more smugly. "I heard something about the Golden Assassin being sighted in those areas."

Kakashi ran his hand his hand through his silver tresses. "I can't believe that you went to every town and took every book. How did you do it? Better yet, how did you get in here without me knowing?"

"Like I said, I don't know anything about 'stolen' books, but I'm an assassin and just so you know, your security stinks." Aria stood up and tossed a small bag up in the air before catching it again. "So, I just came by to say 'hi' I don't have any clean clothes and I'm off to find some things to wear. See you later." Aria looked over at the window and made her way towards it.

Kakashi appeared in front of her again and loomed over the woman with muderous intent. "I want my books Aria."

The woman sighed and put on a surrendering expression. "Fine, well there is one more..."

The man perked up instantly and looked at her eagarly. "Really?"

His voice sounded so hopeful that Aria almost regretted her next statement...almost. "Nope, I was just kidding, bye!" The woman made a break for the window, only to be stopped again.

"Wait." Kakashi was even surprised that he had actually called out to the book-murderer. "Listen, I'm going to have dinner soon. Why don't you stay?" Aria looked at him and frowned, not buying the whole 'I am so innocent' act. Kakashi felt his heart begin to thump harder and he realized that he was holding his breath.

"Thanks, but I really have to get some new clothes." Aria answered.

Kakashi stepped forward and reached out for her arm, "I'll come with you and then we can have dinner together. How does that sound?" Aria looked at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and sighing.

"You're not going to let me out of here until I say 'yes' are you?"

"Nope." Kakashi grinned. Finally, Aria nodded and turned toward the window. "Have you ever heard of a door?" Kakashi asked.

Aria looked at him and a light blush appeared at her cheeks "Right, the door." She grumbled before moving out of his grasp and sulking out. Kakashi laughed and followed her, locking the door behind him.

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Aria immediately set off in the direction of the clothing stores and Kakashi briefly wondered how she knew which way to go before remembering her eyes. Together, they strolled down the streets in companionable silence. Kakashi looked up and caught the jealous glances that men shot him and smirked behind his own mask.

"Stop smirking perv!" Aria snapped before turning into a nearby building. "You really don't have to come in with me. I can pick out my own clothes."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "I'm here to offer my professional opinion and take out my frustration on you for the massacre of my books."

Aria snorted and began to sift through the piles of pants. She quickly found one in her size and held it up. Kakashi looked at her for a moment and watched her inspect it with the full power of her eyes. Quickly, Aria discarded the pair and moved to the next and next. At last, Aria looked up and moved to the shirts, obviously finding nothing that she thought was suitable.

Six stores later, Kakashi was about to tear his hair out in frustration. They left the last store with a total of two shirts and two pants. "May I ask what was wrong with ALL of those other clothes?" he asked.

"They had weak threads that wouldn't have lasted in a fight. I need something that will hold up." Aria answered patiently, "Look, I can just go if you're sick of me for today."

Kakashi looked at her and smiled ruefully, "Oh no, I held up my end of the deal and you have to hold up yours."

Aria scowled at him and looked down on her purchases. "I'm filthy, let me at least go back and change at least."

Kakashi looked down at her and smiled "Stop trying to escape; I'm not torturing you; my shower works fine." Kakashi laughed as a blush rose in her cheeks.

"I really hate you sometimes." Aria shot back and fell into a fuming silence. They made their way back to the apartment and Kakashi opened the door for her, signaling for her to enter. Quickly, Aria rushed into the bathroom and disappeared with a withering look at Kakashi.

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Aria turned on the water and stepped in the shower. How long had it been since she had had a real shower? Two, three years? The warm water cascaded down her body and she reveled in it; all her troubles seemed to vanish down the drain. Not trusting Kakashi's shampoo, Aria pulled out her own and dumped it on her hair. The smell of mint drifted around the bathroom, making Aria want to just fall asleep.

At last, Aria finished and stepped out of the shower. She looked around and her stomach suddenly dropped; there wasn't anything to dry herself with. _Damn, Kakashi. You planned this didn't you? _Aria swallowed her pride and knocked on the door. "Um, Kakashi? Could you…um...hand me a towel?"

Kakashi had been waiting for this moment and smiled from his position behind the door, he looked at the towel in his hand and called out to Aria. "What? I can't hear you from behind that door."

"Damn Kakashi I know you're on the other side of the door; I can see your shadow. Give me that towel." Aria shouted.

"Well, you have to open the door for me to give it to you." Kakashi explained reasonably; this was really fun. He loved to tease her.

Aria took a deep breath and did a few quick calculations in her head. Without warning, she whipped the door open and snatched the towel from Kakashi's grip; all without exposing more than her arm. "Idiot." Aria scoffed while she locked the door and changed into one of her new pairs of clothes. At last, she emerged wearing a clean pair of black, baggy pants and a dark violet shirt that had a gold design stitched on the tips of the sleeves. Her hair was curled back with a silver comb with two strands of hair that hung around her face.

Kakashi was waiting for her and the sight nearly knocked him down; she was absolutely stunning. "Well, I have cooked an amazing meal of instant ramen for both of us." Kakashi grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

Aria smiled at him and winked, "Better than what I have sometimes." In a flash, she slid down into a chair and waited to be served. Kakashi took a moment to recover and then scooped the noodles into her bowl and then the same to his own. The ninja sat down and looked at Aria, waiting for her to begin eating. Apparently, she was doing the same for him.

"Oh! Right, your mask." Aria suddenly exclaimed and quickly turned around to allow him to eat in peace. She had completely forgotten that he always wore it and wasn't about to let her see it. Instantly, she dove into her own meal and emptied the bowl. After waiting a few minutes, she asked if he was finished. No answer came and Aria eventually decided to turn around.

He wasn't there. Aria looked around and still didn't see him. Confused, Aria decided not to press into the subject and thought that she should leave. It wasn't often that she ate with other people and when she did, they were either a troop of male assassins or she was downing the meal between strides while being chased by ANBU agents. She must have offended him. Silently, Aria got up and awkwardly returned her bowl to the sink. Hot breath suddenly surged down her neck and Aria spun around. There was Kakashi standing there without his mask. In the words of Sakura he was HOT.

Aria's mind raced with emotions she never felt before she couldn't tear her gaze away from his face and suddenly felt the heat in her face raise. Quickly, Aria spun around and looked up at the ceiling, counting ceiling tiles. Forty-seven…Forty-eight…Forty-nine…

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked behind her. Aria gulped, still refusing to look at him.

"You, uh, don't have your mask on." She said softly. A chuckle sounded behind her and Aria was simply dieing to turn around and look at him again.

"I know that, contrary to popular belief, I'm not that dense. I believe in your words, 'is it that bad?'"

Aria was really confused, but still refused to turn around. "Um, I'm really not the expert in that department; perhaps you should ask someone else. It looked fine to me though." Aria galnced out of the corner of her eye to the window. If she made a break for it right now, she could make it. "Right, so I'll see you later, thanks for dinner and everything…" Aria shot for the door, only to be stopped by Kakashi who grabbed her around the waist.

That hot blush came forward again as Aria found herself caught by Kakashi; his hands were planted around her waist. _Think…Think…THINK! Hmm, this feels, well nice, wait what! Where did that come from? RUN, run as far away as humanly possible._

Kakashi was equally surprised by his actions, but since Aria had stopped and hadn't killed him yet, he just kept his hands where they were. Her stomach was smooth and her waist was well-muscled. _Wow this feels nice. She really is gorgeous._ Kakashi thought to himself.

Aria took a deep breath through her nose and silently let it out of her mouth, willing herself to calm down. "Uh, Kakashi, you can let go of me now…" Aria felt the warm hand slide back across her waist and she instantly found herself missing the warmth. Things were so much less complicated when she had Hiyu and Uio by her side; they would have massacred Kakashi before he could have even touched her. "So, I'll be going and I guess I'll see you later…" _Much later._ Aria called over her shoulder before nearly flying out the window.

Kakashi looked out the window before moving to close it. What had he done wrong? Was it his face that had frightened her away so quickly? Why had she run? A thousand questions passed through his mind as he caught a glimpse of a small, quick shadow jump from roof to roof before disappearing into the night.

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Aria took her own advice and ran. She ran hard; each pounding footstep brought her farther away from Kakashi and closer to sanity. At last, she found that her feet had subconsciously brought her to her camp and pack. Shakily, Aria resolved that she would watch over team seven from a distance, not letting them see her as much as they had. It was safer that way.

Love was not for assassins…Fear was not for assassins…Emotions were not for assassins…She was an assassin…

Aria drifted to sleep, still chanting this to herself as an eerie lullaby.

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So, what did you all think? I added a bit of fluff to this chapter, but nothing too bad I hope. Not the terribly romantic type as you can plainly see. Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers and please continue because I love hearing from you all!

Sandsifter


	8. Confrontations

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this? _sigh. _I do not own Naruto, but I do own Aria and other original characters of my own creation.

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Six days passed and Aria could be found perched in a tree above team seven's meeting place, hidden amongs the leaves. She had safely secured her veils and cloak, adopting her old identity as the Golden Assassin. Aria followed the group like a shadow, marking each student's progress carefully, committing each and everytechnique to memory.

Often, Aria heard a few whispers about her, wondering where she had gone and questioning why she had suddenly abandoned them. Their words cut deep; it was heartbreaking to hear them think that she had simply picked up and left. However much she wanted to go to them, Aria kept herself hidden from team seven.

On the sixth day, Aria saw a dark figure approaching the group silently. Aria watchedit creep silently toward them, a throwing star poised for attack. Aria instantly recognized the man as a member of the Assassin'sGuild, and senther ownthrowing knife into his throat. The man never knew what hit him asfell forward, dead, into the training area where the four ninjas raised their own kunai to attack.

_So much for my secret alertness._ Aria thought ruefully before dropping down beside man and kneeling down beside him. It was definitely a member of the Guild. Others called him the Star Man; he had possessed the power to disappear at will, a skill that Aria wished for now. Carefully, she took out a blue vial and poured the liquid down the man's throat; it would prevent any tracker ninja or ANBU agents from tracking the body back to the source, or wringing any secrets out of the corpse.

"Aria!" Naruto screamed, launching himself at the woman.The assassinlooked at him for a moment before jumping up and disappearing into the foliage.

"Where did she go?" Sakura asked in a hurt tone.

Kakashi was too busy searching the leaves for any indication to Aria's position. He had been secretly crushed when the girl hadn't shown her face for six days, and hewas determined to find her. "Set a perimeter." Hecommanded before jumping up in the leaves after the assassin. The other students nodded and then leapt off in opposite directions.

Kakashi scanned the forest, probingeach darkcornerwith his chakra to find the woman. There! She was just a few feet away to his left. Suddenly, Kakashi saw a darkblur leap at her, tackling her from behind. Aria gave out a pained yelp before crashing to the forest floor with the man. Unfortunately for her, the attacker had used her as a sort of cushion for the fall and the wind was knocked from her lungs, leaving her starving for air. The figure put a kunai to her throat and pressed it upwards.

Aria looked attheweaponfor a moment and then glanced backwards at the figure. "What are you doing?" she wheezed. "Let me up; I haven't done anything to you."

"I'm going to kill you, Golden Assassin." A shaky voice sounded from behind her. Aria instantly recognized it as Iruka's. Oh, the irony was so overwhelming; Aria was tempted to burst into hysterical laughter. She had adopted the name of the Golden Assassin to escape death, but it was actually her own self, the Aria part of her, that would have saved her in this situation. Black spots began to dance in the corners of her vision and Aria suddenly realized that she had broken one of her ribs and her wrist.

That hysterical laughter was becoming harder and harder to quell, so Aria decided to talk, knowing thatsweet death wouldtake her soon. "Anytime would be nice; kill the great Golden Assassin already."

Iruka pressed the kunai closer to Aria's throat causing the skin tosuddenly split and warm, red blood flowed down her neck and soaked into her cloak. There was something unnerving about killing a legend that Iruka hesitated a moment too long. Someone suddenly pressed a pressure point on his back and Iruka collapsed, unconscious. Kakashi whispered a silent apology to his friend and then called the rest of his students, ordering them to take Iruka back to his apartment.

Kakashi put down his headpiece and glanced down at the girl; she had fallen unconscious when Iruka's kunai had pressed against her windpipe. Sighing, Kakashi decided to throw all promises about not picking her up to the wind as hegathered thewoman over his shoulder before taking off towards his home.

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Aria slowly came to a dull consciousness and felt pain all over her body. She was obviously not dead. Distantly, Aria sighed inwardly in mild disappointment; this really hurt. "Uio?" she managed. "It really hurts…?" Delirium had taken over hermind and Aria wished to just feela large, comforting hand place itself on her body and make the pain go away.

"Who's Uio?" a voice asked curiously from beside her.

Memories suddenly flooded back to Aria and her head cleared. She wasn't with Uio and Hiyu, that voice had come from Kakashi. What was wrong with this man? Could he just let her die for once? Painfully, Aria cracked open her eyes and found herself placed on Kakashi's bed and he was leaning over her intently.

Aria suddenly sat up and a sharp pain suddenly coursed through her body, followed by a slew of curses. "That isn't very lady-like." Kakashi informed herpolitely. Wow, this man really knew how to grate on her nerves.

"I really hate you right now." Aria said through clenched teeth. "What, you couldn't just let me die?" Kakashi sat down at the end on the bed and looked at Aria intently.

"Well, I would have more than happy to let you just be killed by a simple chunnin, but I had a few questions to ask you starting with 'who is Uio?'"

"Uio is my other best friend; he normally is on a squad with Hiyu and me and has the ability to heal." Aria scowled down at her chest and found that it was wrapped in bandages; she didn't even want to think about how or who put them there. After a quick inspection of her body, Aria discovered that she was sporting large bruises all around her body and her left wrist was broken. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Aria detached herself from the pain and deftly swung her legs off the bed. As soon as she put weight on her legs, the assassin crumpled to the ground, only to be caught by Kakashi.

"I don't think you are able to move. Tonight, you'll be staying with me and we'll see how you feel in the morning." Carefully, Kakashi lifted Aria up bridal style and sat down on the bed, pulling the woman onto his lap. Gently, Kakashi brushed his fingers across her neck to find her pulse. He was surprised to feel it beating wildly and turned to look Aria's blushing face. _I see, well at least she gets flustered around me; Let's see if we can build on that. _Kakashi suddenly leaned back against the pillow and pulled Aria _very_ close to his chest, feeling her heart begin to beat madly. The Jounin was _reall_y enjoying this position and carefully put his head back and closed his eye.

Aria felt like her face was on fire. Her resolve was suddenly gone and she was at a loss for words for once in her life. Being in Kakashi's lap was bad enough, but now she was curled up against him, each curve fitting snugly against his chest. The worst part of the whole ordeal was that she liked it. Carefully, Aria tried to wriggle from the man's grasp. "Uh, listen. For once I agree that I can't make it back to the clearing where I'm staying, but I think it would be better if I just sleep on the couch."

Kakashi knew that Aria couldn't see his face, so he smirked widely and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer to him. "I'm very comfortable; this is a perfect position, it prevents you from twisting around and jarring your ribs."

Aria's face began to burn uncontrollably and she tried more desperately to squirm from his grasp; this was just way too close. "I see…well, listen, I would be much more comfortable on the floor. So if you could just let go of me…" she knew that her voice was coming out in a strangled croak, but at the moment, her only two thoughts were that this felt really nice and she needed to get away from it quickly.

"You need to accept that I am not going to let you go from this position, so I suggest that you simply deal with it. Now, we will move onto the next issue; I want some answers." Kakashi opened his eye and looked down at the woman in his arms. "First I want to know where you have been for the past six days."

Looking back up at Kakashi, Aria forced down the weakness that she felt around him and cooled her blush. "I've been doing my job and protecting you and the others." She answered in a logical tone.

"I see, well may I ask why you kept out of sight for all that time and refused the courteously to even speak with any of us." Kakashi countered, anger creeping into his voice.

The assassin met his gaze evenly before speaking, "I realized that I was getting too emotionally attached to my charges and thought it best to distance myself from them. Emotions were complicating my duty."

This was not the answer Kakashi was expecting and he stared at her dumbly, his mouth hanging slightly ajar "You weren't angry at any of us? I thought that you were offended that I showed you my face."

Aria looked at Kakashi strangely for a moment "No, I told you that it was fine, I'm really not the person you should have asked for an opinion. Neither you, nor anyone else made me angry; I was just doing my duty the best I was able to." Silence engulfed the room and an awkward moment passed between the two. Not having anything else to do, Aria reached to her wrist to feel her dagger and was shocked to find it missing. Almost frantically, Aria checked all other stations where her weapons were usually placed. Anger suddenly took over Aria's face and she glared at Kakashi. "Where are they?" she demanded.

Kakashi looked back down at her "Where are what?" he asked innocently.

"My daggers you dolt. Get off of me so I can find them!" Aria nearly screamed and began to thrash about, careful not to jar her upper torso. Kakashi's grasp tightened on Aria's waist and his hand slide to her stomach. The other hand was freed from its use and it suddenly encircled Aria's unbroken wrist as she made to punch him in the face. The only problem that really posed a threat were Aria's legs; they were kicking him hard and though it didn't hurt, Kakashi was getting annoyed. Instantly, he wrapped his foot around Aria's ankles and pinned them down. Aria let out an enraged screech, but soon settled for her usual spout of curses and threats.

Kakashi leaned down so his masked mouth was to her ear "My, this day just keeps getting better and better. Please, do keep squirming. I will not give you back your weapons until you can around reasonably move about. Now, get some sleep." With that, Kakashi let go of Aria's wrist and turned off the light, resting his head back against the pillow.

There was no way that Aria was going to sleep with this idiot next to her. NO WAY. Cautiously, Aria removed her ankles from Kakashi's weight when she was sure he had finally gone to sleep. Next, she went to work loosening his grip; when she had gotten it loose enough to slide through, the hand instantly clamped down again and a low chuckle emitted from Kakashi. "I'm a light sleeper; you aren't going to get away."

Aria wanted to scream; she was surely being punished for something terrible and there was someone out to get her. Why was life so unfair? Could things get any worse? Finally succumbing to her fate, Aria head butted Kakashi in the chest before drifting off to sleep.

Kakashi waited until Aria was asleep before placing his head on hers and taking in the mint scent. He smiled contently from behind his mask before he too fell into his own slumber.

* * *

A noise from Kakashi's kitchen caused Aria's eyes to snap open. Quickly, her violet eyes scanned the dark and she realized that Kakashi was still behind her. Gently, Aria elbowed Kakashi in the stomach and she saw his eye snap open and look at her curiously. The noise sounded again from the living room and Aria watched in satisfaction as he pulled a dagger from behind him and handed it to her.

She took it wordlessly and wrapped her long fingers around the hilt lovingly before silently getting up. Kakashi pulled his own kunai out, took his arm from Aria's stomach, and followed her up, mildly surprised to see her dark outline move with grace that would have normally been impossible in her condition. Together, they moved to the bedroom door and they exchanged a glance with each other before bursting through the door. Kakashi flipped on the lights and scanned the room. There, sitting on the sofa was a man with chocolate brown hair and brilliant blue eyes whom Kakashi instantly recognized as the assassin Hiyu and by the refrigerator, a seven foot man who had deep set brown eyes and scraggly black hair was stooping over and inspecting the food. This was the first time that Kakashi had gotten a good look at Hiyu, and he took in each aspect of his face. Hiyu and the other man looked to be about Aria's age both looked mature. Muscles rippled beneath both men's clothing and at the sound of Kakashi's and Aria's entrance, the men stood up and locked their gaze on Aria.

It was Hiyu who broke the silence first. "Aria?" Aria looked at Hiyu for a moment and nodded. "Is that the Copy Ninja's bedroom?" Hiyu continued, pointing to the room from which Aria had come.

"Yes." Aria answered a bit hesitently.

"I see…Aria?"

"Yes?"

"I am going to kill him!" With that, Hiyu whipped out his own daggers and charged at Kakashi. The ninja nimbly dodged the rampaging assassin and shot Aria a confused look. Okay, this was really unfair, he hadn't even done anything and now this insane man was bent on murder.

Aria watched the scene in horror before turning to Uio. "Help me stop them!" she cried out.

Uio looked at her with abroad smile plastered on his face, "Uh, come on Aria, this is interesting. Frankly, I don't disagree with Hiyu. That ninja is going to get it,and it will make our job so much easier."

"Help me stop them Uio." Aria growled menacingly. The giant rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically before nodding to Aria and reaching out to snatch the men from their attack. Holding Hiyu in one hand and Kakashi in the other, Uio looked at Aria expectantly.

"Hiyu, what are you doing you idiot? I have to protect him and that means that if you attack, it will be me you are fighting." Aria snarled at the youngman.

Hiyu was shooting death glares at Kakashi who was careful not to look him in the eyes. "Well, Aria, what am I supposed to think? You come out of this ninja's bedroom at night and look like hell I-"

"YOU THOUGHT THAT I SLEPT WITH KAKASHI?" Aria screamed in shock and fury. "I assure you Hiyu that I am still the same virgin that you have known for the past sixteen years. Ew, you are you so disgusting. I still have my first kiss for goodness sake; why are you really here?"

Uio chuckled and looked at Aria with amusement dancing in his eyes, "Well, I can see that this is a great reunion. We came for many reasons, but the main one was to wish you a happy birthday, or did you forget?" Uio promptly dropped both men from his grasp and rushed toward Aria and wrapped her in a bear hug. Aria let out a pained yelp as the giant squeezed her torso.

Uio immediately let Aria go and inspected the young female assassin with concern in his eyes. "What happened to you? What is wrong with you? You have three broken ribs, a broken wrist, and a bunch of bruises. It looks like you fell out of a tree." He scolded.

Aria's face turned red and did not go unnoticed by Hiyu who had stopped his rampage at the sound of Aria's pained cry. Suddenly he laughed and put an arm around Aria's shoulders to support her. "You're kidding? The best assassin in the world fell out of a tree and broke three ribs and her wrist? I don't believe it."

Shooting Hiyu an embarrassed look, Aria felt her face grow more heated, "I was a little preoccupied at the moment and a chunnin tackled me from behind…I killed the Star Man."

Everyone seemed to have forgotten Kakashi as they quickly bombarded Aria with questions. Kakashi sat up and looked on,bewildered; one minute he was sleeping in his own bed with Aria curled up next to him and the next he was being attacked by this Hiyu assassin. Kakashi didn't know what else to do except stare at the trio of assassins. The one called Uio suddenly placed his hand on Aria's rib cage and closed his eyes. Kakashi watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as the giant's man sank into Aria's skin and the woman's skin began to shift as the broken ribs mended together. After a few moments, Uio moved to Aria's wrist and her other bruises to repeat the process.

Suddenly, when Aria was completely healed, Hiyu rushed in and wrapped his arms around her. Kakashi's throat constricted as he noticed that Aria did not pull away as she did with him. "Are you insane?" Hiyu began to scold, "What were you thinking getting in my way? I could have killed you! Never do anything that stupid again!"

Aria looked at the man holding her and returned the embrace. When she had been forced to fight Hiyu, every blow seemed to cut deep into her heart. Slowly, she untangled herself from Hiyu's grasp and studied him thoughtfully. "Did you guys pass the examination? If you did, this means that you are free from all previous hunts, including the hunt to kill Kakashi. Please tell me that you did; that would be the birthday present of a lifetime."

An odd expression passed across both male assassins' faces before it was replaced by joy. They both ripped off their gloves to show Aria the scars on their palms that portrayed the symbol of the Code. "Yeah, we passed it alright; what did you expect from us? Man, it hurt like hell when they gave us the inscription. You were right when you said that it was the most painful but happiest moment in your life. It feels so…right." Uio exclaimed. Carefully, reached into his vest and pulled out a small package. "This is your real present from me."

Aria took the package and opened it carefully; her heart was still singing with joy that her two best friends had joined her as follows of the Code. Inside the package was a smooth red stone. Aria raised her eyebrow at the grinning giant and took it out of the box. The moment the stone touched Aria's skin, it began to shift into a million colors. "Oh, my god! This is amazing!" Aria nearly squealed in excitement, suddenly her face grew serious and she looked at Uio suspiciously. "This isn't stolen is it?"

Uio grinned broadly and let out a laugh that rumbled the whole apartment. He swung a massive arm around Aria and plucked the stone from her, "Nah, I know how stingy you get about the whole 'stealing' thing. Don't worry; every penny I used to buy this was the product of my oh-so-respectable occupation. Remember that I can't lie now, so believe it."

Still laughing, Uio returned the stone to Aria and then walked over to couch and plopped down next Kakashi who watched him apprehensively. Uio looked over the ninja and smiled, "Don't cringe like that, and it's not me you should be worried about. Hiyu is the one who wants your blood."

_Hm, for some reason that doesn't make me feel any better…I wonder why…_ Kakashi thought warily before casting a sideways glance at the other assassin. The blue-eyed man saw the look and smiled ruthlessly. "I'm not going to hurt you Copy Ninja. Aria obviously cares about you, but if you keep admiring her like that, I'll be forced to defend her honor andit would be a shame to change the carpet's color to red." Kakashi's eye widened and he quickly looked away. Talk about a violent state of mind.

Hiyu smirkedbefore turning back to Aria who was still studying the stone with fascination. She was trying to track the movements of color and was completely enraptured with the simple device. Slowly, he reached over and pulled out his present from his cloak. Carefully, he took Aria's hand and placed the object in it.

Aria tore her gaze away from Uio's stone and looked at the object in her hand. It was beautiful. The orchid that now was laid in her gloved palm was the exact same shade of deep violet as Aria's eyes and was decorated with golden specks on the petals. Aria inhaled at the flower and inspected it with fascination; it was perfect. There were no imperfections in it and Aria carefully put in behind her ear before turning to Hiyu and hugging him so hard that he briefly wondered if she would snap him in half. "Thank you so much you guys; this is the best birthday I've ever had."

Hiyu's face darkened and he pulled away from his best friend's embrace and shot a look at Uio. The giant nodded and turned to Kakashi. Uio took the hint and stood up, pulling Kakashi up firmly behind him. "Come on, Copy Ninja. I need you to help me with something over here." Not giving Kakashi time to react, Uio dragged him into the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

As usual, nothing escaped Aria's gaze and she suddenly turned to Hiyu, demanding an explanation. The two assassins stood across from each other, the tension growing with every passing moment. Suddenly, Hiyu reached into his cloak and pulled out a wrinkled envelope. Silently, he passed it to Aria and watched her reaction with mounting trepidation. He didn't know how she would react to the news,

Aria cocked and eyebrow at him before taking the envelope. Slowly, Aria opened it and slide out the paper that it contained. Aria's stomach twisted in dread of what she would find as she read it.

_Dear Sister of the Code, _

_I write this letter with my own blood so as to pass down the significance of the news. You will be proud to know that the two assassins you sent me have passed the examination with flying colors. I do not have much time left in this world and wish to make the best of it. The Master Assassin has now killed all other members of the Code and now comes for me. As the leader of The Followers, I have felt their passing deep within my heart. He seeks to destroy the members. He knows that you now are under the oath of the great Copy Ninja and will come for you next. At this moment, his group of assassins is outside my home. You and the two new followers are the last remaining members of the Code. You, dear sister are the senior member and the leadership falls on your shoulders. I send this letter with your friends, the Reade and the Drifter. Live and keep the Code safe. _

While reading the letter, Aria felt the blood drain from her face and she began to tremble. They were all dead, she was the leader, and the Master Assassin knew where she was. Hope was now a foreign feeling because she couldn't run. Aria was bound to Kakashi and team seven; there was nowhere to go. The world went dead and distantly, Aria felt Hiyu move so he was supporting her with his own body.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kakashi found himself in a very different situation; he was trapped in his own bedroom with a giant assassin leaning against the door idly. Images of what Hiyu was doing to Aria flashed through his brain and he reached for his kunai.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The giant said in a bored tone. "You aren't going to defeat me." Kakashi ground his teeth, but otherwise remained stoic.

"And why is that?" The ninja asked.

Uio chuckled and cast an amused glance at Kakashi as a parent would a foolish child. "You forget that I am an assassin and have been trained by the greatest fighters since I was very young. In addition to that, I have certain skills that will give me a considerable advantage over you, lover boy. So don't worry, Hiyu and Aria do not feel that way about each other; they're just best friends."

Kakashi weighed his options carefully and finally replaced his kunai and sat down on the bed. If Aria trusted this man, then it only stood that he also trust him enough to not attack. "So, what is it that you can do, uh, Uio?" he asked mildly.

"I can do many things, Copy Ninja. As you saw I can heal others and possess a considerable amount of strength. My favorite power though is walking through solid objects." Uio chuckled at the shocked expression on Kakashi's face. "I like ye, Copy Ninja, so I'm going to give you some advice. Never refer to Hiyuby his name, call him 'Reader.' I am to be called 'Drifter,' and if you had any respect, you would call Aria 'Seer.'"

Kakashi looked at the man in front of him strangely for a moment before answering "I see, well if you don't mind me asking, how long will this take? I'm not particularly fond of being held hostage inside my own home."

Uio frowned and then turned around, careful to keep his body in front of the door and stuck his head through the wall. Kakashi couldn't suppress the strangled gasp that emitted from his mouth as the giant's head withdrew from the wall and looked back at him. "I think we should give them another ten minutes. In the mean time, you can help me replenish Aria's pack." Uio pulled out Aria's pack from beneath his cloak and set down on the floor. To Kakashi's horror, the man began to dig out the contents, occasionally stopping to inspect certain bottles before setting them down on the floor.

"Where did you get that?" Kakashi demanded, the last time that he had touched Aria's pack was still embedded in his mind. "She's going to kill us if she steps in and sees me near her pack again."

The giant looked up and studied Kakashi thoughtfully "I found it in the forest and decided to bring it here. Did you just say that you went into her pack before?"

_Oops._ "Uh, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked, trying to change the subject.

Uio smiled and then turned back to the contents of the pack and pulled out Aria's clothes. "You are one lucky man that you lived through that. She hates it when other people touch her stuff. The circumstances call for this restocking mission though. I think she will forgive me for this…" Kakashi watched doubtfully as Uio reached into his own pack and took out spare clothing and stuff it into the pack along with various bottles. "It's a good thing that I know how to get into her room back at the headquarters or I might not have this right now." Uio announced as he stuffed an extra pair of pants into the pack.

When the man was done, he stood up and stretched before turning around and opening the door. "Coming?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded and took one last look at the bulging pack before disappearing through the door. What they found on the other side of the door made Kakashi's heart leap. Aria's face was as white as death and it seemed like Hiyu's hand was the only thing keeping her from collapsing. Immediately, Kakashi started forward, only to be stopped by Uio's hand on his shoulder. "What did you do?" Kakashi snarled. "She looks terrible."

"I agree with the Copy Ninja on this one, Hiyu. I don't like that look on her face." Uio said. Even though Uio said it with a straight face, Kakashi heard a hint of fear creep into his voice.

At the sound of the newcomer's voices, Aria's eyes cleared and she looked up at them. "I'm fine. This situation calls for strength and that is what I will have. Uio, Hiyu when he comes here he will kill you. Go separate ways and then meet at the cliffs in a week before he finds you. After that you need to travel through the mountains and to the sea. Leave the continent and establish a new headquarters; keep the Code alive and begin to recruit new members." Aria took a breath and felt the color come back into her face.

Hiyu and Uio looked at her strangely for a moment before Hiyu stepped towards her and forced her to look him in the eyes. "I think you are forgetting the part where you join us." He said forcefully.

Aria shook her head and returned his gaze. "I case you have forgotten, I have to stay with Kakashi and the other charges. When he comes for me, I will fight and hold him off." She answered evenly.

"Wrong about that, miss." Uio spoke up as he produced a slip of paper from his vest and held it up to Aria. "This is a blood contract that Hiyu and I signed. It says that if you and your charges sign it in blood, the oath is broken. Of course, all who sign it, including Hiyu and I are prevented from hurting or killing the previous charges so they are safe."

Aria took the paper and looked at it wonderingly. "This will release me?" she asked quietly.

Uio nodded vigorously. "Just get them to sign it and you're free." Aria's face let up and she took out her dagger and slit her finger. With her other hand, Aria pulled out a quill feather and dipped it into the blood before signing her name. Uio smiled and took the contract from her and passed it to Kakashi.

"I'm not signing it." The silver haired ninja announced in a bored tone.

"Excuse me?" Hiyu asked darkly. "I must have misunderstood what you just said. I could have sworn that you said that you would not sign the contract that would release my best friend from her servitude."

"No, you heard correctly." Kakashi answered.

Hiyu's eyes grew hard and he looked at Kakashi. "Sign it now." He commanded murderously. "You have no idea what you are getting yourself into Copy Ninja, if Aria doesn't leave, the Master Assassin will torture her in ways that you cannot even imagine and then kill her. I already hate you; do not test my resolve to the Code."

"Leave now, Hiyu. You too Uio. I will deal with this, if I do not meet you at the cliffs in one week, then go on without me. That is a direct order." Hiyu opened his mouth to protest, but Aria cut him off. "I commanded it; you dare to challenge the leader of the Followers? Go now."

The two other assassins looked at each other. Pain and distress lined their faces and they glanced at Aria one last time. Hiyu finally turned and stalked towards the window. "I will kill you for this Copy Ninja." He whispered into Kakashi's ear before disappearing into the darkness. Uio simply shot Kakashi a death glare before passing through the wall.

Kakashi watched them go before turning to Aria. She was looking out the window; no emotion was displayed on her features. Then, without a word, the assassin walked into Kakashi's room only to emerge again with her pack slung on her shoulder and dressed as the Golden Assassin. "I will be leaving now. Do not doubt my presence for I will be watching over you from a distance. Good-bye."

"Stop." Kakashi ordered. He watched as Aria froze and turned around to look at him with dead eyes. "I am going to sign that contract, but not right now. You are going to meet Uio and Hiyu at the cliffs, but you are going to have to have us as your escort. Once we arrive at these 'cliffs' I will sign the contract and then you wouldn't ever have to see me again." A spark of emotion flashed in Aria's eyes and she narrowed them in suspicion.

"Do I have your word on that?" Kakashi nodded, knowing that Aria would be able to see that he was telling the truth. The assassin studied him for a moment and then anger grew in eyes. "You are insane; this will be dangerous for not only me, but you and your students. I'm not going to put you in that situation."

Kakashi chuckled and addressed Aria in a condescending tone "Actually, you don't have a choice. Now, could you please go and get the others? You know what they need better than I do."

Okay, this guy really knew how to get under her skin. "What do I look like, your slave!" she shot back at him. Kakashi opened his mouth to reply, but Aria cut him off by holding up her palm. "Don't answer that. I'll go tell them to meet you at the training grounds as soon as possible." With that, Aria jumped out the window and scurriedacross the rooftops, shaking with anger.

* * *

Ah, well, I apologize to all for the extremely late update—finals, exams, and such. My English teacher has been giving me complete crap about my 'word choice' all week, so I was in a pretty foul moodfor the past couple of weeks. Thanks to all my reviewers, and please continue the feedback.

'til next time, Sandsifter


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